A Field Study of Repetitive Manual Work in Relation to Accidents at the Work Place

Abstract Four hundred and twenty-seven reported accidents in the course of repetitive, self-paced work in the machine shop of a light engineering factory were analysed for time of occurrence. Four critical peak periods were found. During these periods observational studies of variability of speed of operation were conducted, particularly on lathes, which revealed thai machine loading times varied more than cutting times. This was followed by a case study of variability of accuracy of hand movements. Unsuccessful Hand Movements (UHMs) were found to occur more often during the critical periods than at other times of the day. The data are interpreted in terms of rate of gain of information, fatigue and boredom.