Jack's Task Analysis Toolkit is a set of ten ergonomics analysis tools that help you design industrial tasks for optimal safety and productivity. An add-on to Jack® 2.2i, the Task Analysis Toolkit provides tools for:

• Low Back Spinal Force Analysis
• Static Strength Prediction
• NIOSH Lifting Analysis
• Predetermined Time Analysis
• Rapid Upper Limb Assessment
• Metabolic Energy Expenditure
• Manual Handling Limit
• Fatigue/Recovery Time Analysis
• Working Posture Analysis

Low Back Spinal Force Analysis

The Low Back Spinal Force Analysis tool helps you evaluate the spinal forces acting on a virtual human's lower back, under any posture and loading condition. Based on a complex biomechanical low back model incorporating the latest anatomical and physiological data, the tool enables you to:

• Determine whether newly defined or existing tasks conform to NIOSH guidelines or expose workers to an increased risk of low back injuries
• Evaluate jobs in real-time, flagging the exact moments when the compression forces on a worker's low back exceed NIOSH recommended force limits

Static Strength Prediction

The Static Strength Prediction tool helps you evaluate the percentage of a worker population that has the strength to perform a task based on posture, exertion requirements and anthropometry. Based on strength studies performed over 25 years at the University of Michigan Center for Ergonomics, the Strength Prediction tool:

• Aids in analyzing material handling tasks involving lifts, lowers, pushes and pulls requiring complex hand forces, torso twists and bends
• Predicts the percentage of men and women who have the static strength to perform the prescribed job
• Evaluates jobs in real-time, flagging postures where task requirements exceed NIOSH or user-specified strength capability limits

NIOSH Lifting Analysis

The NIOSH Lifting Analysis tool helps you evaluate symmetrical and asymmetrical lifting tasks, including lifts with less than optimal couplings between the object and the worker's hands. Based on NIOSH lifting equations developed by a committee of experts, the tool:

• Tells you the expected weight or load, under given postural conditions, that most healthy workers could safely lift over a substantial period of time
• Gives a relative estimate of the level of physical stress associated with a manual lifting task or a job involving multiple lifting tasks

Predetermined Time Analysis

The Predetermined Time Analysis tool helps you predict the time required to perform a job by subdividing a task into a set of motions which have been assigned times based on the methods-time measurement (MTM-1) system. With this tool you can:

• Design manual tasks for optimal cycle times
• Evaluate alternate work methods in planning manual tasks and equipment needs for new facilities
• Identify the tasks in a job and the variables of the tasks that represent the best opportunities for reducing the overall time required to perform a job

Rapid Upper Limb Assessment

The Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool helps you evaluate the exposure of workers to the risk of upper limb disorders. For a given manual task, RULA:

• Assesses the risk of upper limb disorders based on posture, muscle use, the weight of loads, task duration and frequency
• Assigns the evaluated task a score that indicates the degree of intervention required to reduce the risk of an upper limb injury

Metabolic Energy Expenditure

The Metabolic Energy Expenditure tool helps you predict the metabolic energy expenditure requirements of a job based on worker characteristics and a description of the simple tasks that comprise the job. Based on the research of Garg, Chaffin and Herrin, this tool enables you to:

• Determine whether newly defined or existing jobs conform to NIOSH or user-specific guidelines for metabolic energy expenditure or expose workers to an increased risk of fatigue and injury
• Identify the tasks in a job and the variables of the tasks that represent the best opportunities for reducing a job's overall energy expenditure requirements

Manual Handling Limits

The Manual Handling Limits tool helps you evaluate and design manual handling tasks involving lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and carrying for reduced risk of low back pain. Based on 20 years of research conducted at the Liberty Mutual Research Center, the tool enables you to:

• Determine the maximum acceptable weight that men and women can handle when performing various lift, lower, push, pull and carry tasks
• Run "what-if" scenarios, altering the task variables to arrive at a job design that meets your manual handling weight requirements; variables include object width, vertical distance, task frequency and duration

Fatigue/Recovery Time Analysis

The Fatigue and Recovery Analysis tool helps you assess whether enough recovery time is available for a given job to avoid worker fatigue. Based on strength and fatigue studies undertaken by Rohmert, the tool computes the recovery time required for a job and compares it to available rest time. If there is not enough rest time in a job cycle to accommodate recovery time, workers are assumed to be at risk of fatigue. With the Fatigue and Recovery Analysis tool, you can:

• Design manual tasks for minimal risk of worker fatigue
• Analyze worker fatigue in static postures or continuously during a real-time simulation
• Identify the tasks in a job that require the most recovery time and the muscle groups that are under the most strain

Working Posture Analysis

The OWAS tool provides you with a simple method for quickly checking the comfort of working postures and determining the urgency of taking corrective measures. Based on the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS), the tool:

• Evaluates the relative discomfort of a working posture based on positioning of the back, arms and legs, as well as load requirements
• Assigns the evaluated posture a score that indicates the urgency of taking corrective measures to reduce the posture's potential to expose workers to injury.