This document establishes an ergonomic model for any cyclical human work planned and executed in an industrial competitive environment. It also covers the process of measuring work based on the concept of normal work performance and of the assessment of risk factors commonly associated with body postures, body or hand forces, manual material handling of loads and handling low loads at high frequency.

This document applies to the adult working population and is intended to give reasonable protection for nearly all healthy adults. Those areas concerning health risks and control measures are mainly based on experimental studies regarding musculoskeletal loading, discomfort or pain and endurance or fatigue related to work organization and methods.

The scope of this document is any cyclical human work planned and executed in an industrial competitive environment. The most typical cases are within industries where there is the need to define an expected output (products or services) based on the optimization of the trade-off between labour productivity and health and safety.

The most sensitive organizations to this proposal are those within labour-intensive manufacturing industries with series and batch production systems:

—    automotive (original equipment manufacturer and tier 1 and 2 suppliers);

—    industrial automotive (trucks, buses, agricultural and mining equipment);

—    industrial manufacturing (small domestic and industrial equipment or machinery);

—    domestic appliances and consumer goods (white goods);

—    plastic and rubber products (tires, doors, windows, shoes);

—    consumer electronics (PCs, televisions, printers, radios, hi-fis, alarm systems);

—    furniture;

—    textiles and apparel;

—    food preparation;

—    packaging;

—    aerospace and defence;

—    rail and shipping;

—    large domestic and industrial equipment or machinery;

—    logistics.