Applying systems thinking to understand and prevent the risks associated with manual tasks
Peter completed his PhD with the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems in 2023 under the supervision of Associate Professor Gemma Read, Professor Paul Salmon and Dr Natassia Goode.
Thesis summary: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) resulting from the performance of hazardous manual tasks (HMTs) represent a considerable proportion of work-related injuries both in Australia and overseas. Within workplaces, efforts to reduce the incidence of MSDs are usually based on risk assessment methods that are applied to HMTs. Systems thinking is an approach that is becoming increasingly popular within safety science for understanding and managing risk. To date, systems thinking has not been widely used in the HMT context, with no existing observation-based risk assessment methods adopting a systems thinking approach to identify and manage HMT risks. The aims of the research were (1) to apply systems thinking to understand and manage the risks associated with HMTs and (2) to extend and test an existing systems thinking method for use in the assessment of HMT risks.
Theoretically, systems thinking was applied and tested in the HMT context for the first time. Methodologically, the thesis developed and tested a novel systems thinking-based HMT risk assessment method that could be used by practitioners to identify and manage the risks associated with HMTs. From a practical perspective, HaMSTA filled a gap in the area of HMT risks by enabling the assessment of systemic risks and the development of systemic controls.
The research culminated in a systems thinking risk assessment method, Hazardous Manual Task Systems Thinking Assessment method (HaMSTA). It is the first systems thinking HMT specific assessment method and includes both physical and psychosocial factors.
Follow this link to access the full thesis:
To find out more about HaMSTA, follow this link: https://hamsta.au/
Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science 