[Inter-rater agreement on self-reported exposure to ergonomic risk factors for the upper extremities among mechanic assemblers in an automotive industry].

OBJECTIVES: to assess reproducibility of self-reported exposure to ergonomic hazards for the upper limbs, measured through a questionnaire based on a diffused checklist for the assessment of ergonomic risk (OCRA) in a sample of mechanical assemblers of an automotive industry. DESIGN: cross-sectional study; reproducibility was assessed as inter-rater agreement of a composite index of ergonomic risk, estimated through the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 58 mechanical assemblers, working in 29 twin areas, characterised by same work stations and tasks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: composite index of ergonomic risk for the upper limbs. RESULTS: reproducibility of the ergonomic index was high in the overall sample (ICC: 0.81) and it was higher for the twin areas employing same-gender workers (ICC: 0.96), compared to those with workers of the opposite gender (ICC: 0.66). CONCLUSION: these results indicate that a questionnaire measuring with a great detail the exposure to the main ergonomic risk factors for the upper limbs, as the one based on the OCRA checklist used for this study, would allow to obtain a highly reproducible ergonomic index. If its validity against the corresponding observational checklist will be found elevated by future studies, this questionnaire may represent a useful tool for a preliminary assessment of workers' exposure to ergonomic hazards for the upper limbs.