Health Sciences

Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors

Research: Expertise & Current Activities

(1)Prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders – MSDs

Research Reports

Review of research evidence identifying main work-related predictors of musculoskeletal disorders

Results from a project to develop and validate a risk assessment tool for workplace use in assessing MSD risk (PDF 1.36MB)

 

WHO network projects:

Hazard surveillance to manage musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk
(encompasses several of the  projects below)
Development of a toolkit for managing the risk of MSDs
(an International Ergonomics Association project, co-managed by Wendy Macdonald)

 

Higher Degree Research Students with MSD-related topics:

Elizabeth Martin - MAppSc: MSD risk in occupational therapists
Sarah Anderson - MAppSc: MSD risk in prosthetists and orthotists
Sam Smith - PhD: developing a risk management toolkit for use in healthcare sector (specific occupational groups to be determined)
Dr Kamal Ismail - Doctor of Public Health: MSD risk of workers on tea growing estates in Malaysia
Ismail Maakip - PhD: MSD risk in women performing repetitive and monotonous work in manufacturing, retail and clerical jobs in Malaysia
Karen Munk – MAppSc: age-related changes in MSD hazard-risk relationships
Donna Smith – PhD: MSD risk for nurses within the context of an ageing workforce

Higher Degree Thesis Supervisors of one or more of the above students:

Wendy Macdonald, Jodi Oakman, Owen Evans, Chris Peterson, David Caple

(2)Ageing Workforce Issues

Higher Degree Research Students with ageing-related topics (a subset of those above)

Karen Munk - see above
Donna Smith - see above

Higher Degree Thesis Supervisors of one or both of the above students:

Wendy Macdonald, Jodi Oakman, Chris Peterson

NB: Our research on topics (1) and (2) above has a strong focus on the influence of workload and other psychosocial hazards on health and wellbeing.

 

(3) Occupational Health & Safety – General

WHO network projects:
Global situation analysis        (Wendy Macdonald & Professor David Rees, National Institute for Occupational Health, South Africa)

Electronic inventory and repository of guidance documents, risk management tools and related resources for vulnerable worker groups
(Owen Evans, Wendy Macdonald, Jodi Oakman)

Occupational safety and health system management: the challenge of global diversity                                                                     (Wendy Macdonald, Mike Moore)

OHS 'Body of Knowledge' (BoK)project

Funded by a grant from WorkSafe Victoria to the Health & Safety Professionals Alliance (HaSPA – see WorkSafe web site)

Work is being conducted by the HaSPA BoK Technical Panel, on which La Trobe University  is represented by Wendy Macdonald and Jodi Oakman.

Higher Degree Research Student with topic in this area:

Mike Moore – PhD: Functionality of OHS management systems

Higher Degree Thesis Supervisors of the above student:

Wendy Macdonald, Owen Evans

(4) Road Safety – 'human factors' issues

Current research grants

Managing older driver safe mobility: an international collaboration.
ARC Linkages project – based at MUARC
(LTU Chief Investigators: Marilyn Di Stefano, Wendy Macdonald)

Intelligent transport system to improve safety
AutoCRC project, based at LTU Centre for Technology Infusion (CTI)
(Wendy Macdonald is a Chief Investigator – one of 5 at LTU)

Higher Degree Research Students with driving-related topics:

Teal Evans – PhD: Development of hazard and risk perception skills in young drivers
Vincent Galea – PhD:  Cognitive ergonomics issues in the design of Human-Machine Interfaces within Dynamic DSRC Networks (part of above CTI project)

Higher Degree Thesis Supervisors of the above students:

Wendy Macdonald, Todd Bentley, Jack Singh, Felix Acker (latter two from CTI)

Other research:

Older drivers’ performance issues and assessment methods – Wendy Macdonald and Marilyn Di Stefano: includes some collaborations with the Driver Research/Education Unit, School of Occupational Therapy.