| Literature DB >> 33551675 |
Rahul Jain1, Kunj Bihari Rana1, Makkhan Lal Meena2.
Abstract
In work-from-home (WFH) situation due to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the handheld device (HHD) users work in awkward postures for longer hours because of unavailability of ergonomically designed workstations. This problem results in different type of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among the HHD users. An integrated multi-criteria decision-making approach was offered for identifying the risk level of MSDs among HHD users. A case example implemented the proposed approach in which, firstly, the best-worst method (BWM) technique was used to prioritize and determine the relative importance (weightage) of the risk factors. The weightages of the risk factors further used to rank the seven alternatives (HHD users) using Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) technique. The outcomes of the BWM investigation showed that the three most significant risk factors responsible for MSDs are duration of working, poor working posture and un-ergonomic design. The outcome of the VIKOR technique exhibited that computer professionals were at the highest risk among all users. The risk factor priority must be used for designing a working strategy for the WFH situation which will help to mitigate the risks of MSDs.Entities:
Keywords: Best–worst method; Decision-making; Handheld devices; Musculoskeletal disorder; Risk mitigation; VIKOR
Year: 2021 PMID: 33551675 PMCID: PMC7856850 DOI: 10.1007/s00500-021-05592-w
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Soft comput ISSN: 1432-7643 Impact factor: 3.643
Fig. 1Different categories of MSD risk factors (primary and subfactors) among the HHD users
Fig. 2Methodology of current research
Rating scale used for BWM and VIKOR techniques
| Scale for BWM technique (adapted from Rezaei et al. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Equal importance | Somewhat between equal and moderate | Moderately more important | Somewhat between Moderate and Strong | Strongly more important | Somewhat between strong and very strong | Very strongly important | Somewhat between very strong and absolute | Absolutely more important | |
| Scale for VIKOR technique | |||||||||
| Least important | 1 | ||||||||
| Moderately important | 2 | ||||||||
| Strongly important | 3 | ||||||||
| Very strongly important | 4 | ||||||||
| Extremely important | 5 | ||||||||
BFO and OTW for primary risk factors
| BFO | IF | PSF | PF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best factor: PF | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| OTW | Worst Factor: IF | ||
| IF | 1 | ||
| PSF | 3 | ||
| PF | 9 |
Pairwise evaluation matrix for subfactors of risks for three primary factor categories
| BFO and OTW subfactors for IF | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BFO | AG | GE | OB | SM | PA |
| Best factor: PA | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| OTW | Worst factor: GE | ||||
| AG | 8 | ||||
| GE | 1 | ||||
| OB | 5 | ||||
| SM | 4 | ||||
| PA | 9 | ||||
| BFO and OTW subfactors for PSF | |||||
| BFO | JS | JSA | RW | TAT | |
| Best factor: JS | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| OTW | Worst factor: TAT | ||||
| JS | 8 | ||||
| JSA | 7 | ||||
| RW | 6 | ||||
| TAT | 1 | ||||
| BFO and OTW subfactors for PF | |||||
| BFO | DW | PO | FE | PD | |
| Best factor: DW | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
| OTW | Worst factor: FE | ||||
| DW | 7 | ||||
| PO | 3 | ||||
| FE | 1 | ||||
| PD | 4 | ||||
Weightage/relative importance and ranking of primary and subfactors computed using BWM technique
| Primary factors | Weightage/relative importance | Relative ranking of primary factors | Subfactors | Weightage/relative importance | Relative ranking of subfactors | Global weightage/relative importance | Global ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IF | 0.0769 | 3 | AG | 0.2182 | 2 | 0.0168 | 9 |
| GE | 0.0519 | 5 | 0.0040 | 13 | |||
| OB | 0.1636 | 3 | 0.0126 | 10 | |||
| SM | 0.1091 | 4 | 0.0084 | 12 | |||
| PA | 0.4571 | 1 | 0.0352 | 8 | |||
| PSF | 0.1923 | 2 | JS | 0.4385 | 1 | 0.0843 | 4 |
| JSA | 0.2032 | 3 | 0.0391 | 7 | |||
| RW | 0.3048 | 2 | 0.0586 | 5 | |||
| TAT | 0.0535 | 4 | 0.0103 | 11 | |||
| PF | 0.7308 | 1 | DW | 0.4767 | 1 | 0.3484 | 1 |
| PO | 0.3023 | 2 | 0.2209 | 2 | |||
| FE | 0.0698 | 4 | 0.0510 | 6 | |||
| PD | 0.1512 | 3 | 0.1105 | 3 |
Average ratings matrix derived from the rating provided by four decision–makers for seven handheld device alternatives with respect to subfactors of risks
| Alternatives | Subfactors of risks | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG | GE | OB | SM | PA | JS | JSA | RW | TAT | DW | PO | FE | PD | ||
| Weights calculated from BWM technique | ||||||||||||||
| 0.0168 | 0.0040 | 0.0126 | 0.0084 | 0.0352 | 0.0843 | 0.0391 | 0.0586 | 0.0103 | 0.3484 | 0.2209 | 0.0510 | 0.1105 | ||
| A1: University students | 3.00 | 2.25 | 2.50 | 3.00 | 3.50 | 2.50 | 2.75 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 4.25 | 3.75 | 2.50 | 4.25 | |
| A2: Computer professionals | 2.75 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.75 | 2.75 | 4.00 | 3.25 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 3.75 | 4.25 | 3.50 | 3.50 | |
| A3: Computer operators | 2.75 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 4.00 | 3.50 | 4.00 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.00 | 4.00 | |
| A4: University faculty | 3.00 | 3.25 | 4.25 | 3.50 | 2.75 | 3.25 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 3.50 | 3.00 | 3.50 | |
| A5: University staff | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.75 | 2.50 | 3.00 | 3.50 | 2.50 | 3.25 | |
| A6: School teachers | 3.00 | 3.75 | 3.50 | 2.50 | 2.50 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.50 | 3.75 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 3.25 | 2.50 | |
| A7: School students | 2.50 | 2.75 | 2.75 | 3.25 | 2.75 | 3.50 | 2.75 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 2.50 | 3.75 | 3.25 | 3.00 | |
Ranking of seven alternatives using VIKOR technique
| Alternatives | Sa | Rank | Ra | Rank | Qa | Rank | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | University students | 0.3915 | 2 | 0.1473 | 2 | 0.2357 | 2 | ||
| A2 | Computer professionals | 0.2555 | 1 | 0.0995 | 1 | 0.0000 | 1 | ||
| A3 | Computer operators | 0.5233 | 4 | 0.2209 | 3 | 0.5190 | 4 | ||
| A4 | University faculty | 0.4951 | 3 | 0.2209 | 3 | 0.4901 | 3 | ||
| A5 | University staff | 0.7145 | 6 | 0.2488 | 6 | 0.7716 | 6 | ||
| A6 | School teachers | 0.6958 | 5 | 0.2209 | 3 | 0.6963 | 5 | ||
| A7 | School students | 0.7422 | 7 | 0.3484 | 7 | 1.0000 | 7 | ||
| 0.2555 | 0.0995 | ||||||||
| 0.7422 | 0.3484 | ||||||||
Decision-makers ratings for seven alternatives with respect to subfactors of risk
| Alternatives | Criteria | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG | GE | OB | SM | PA | JS | JSA | RW | TAT | DW | PO | FE | PD | |
| A1: University students | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| A2: Computer professionals | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| A3: Computer operators | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| A4: University faculty | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| A5: University staff | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| A6: School teachers | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| A7: School students | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| A1: University students | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| A2: Computer professionals | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| A3: Computer operators | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| A4: University faculty | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| A5: University staff | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| A6: School teachers | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| A7: School students | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| A1: University students | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| A2: Computer professionals | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| A3: Computer operators | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| A4: University faculty | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| A5: University staff | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| A6: School teachers | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| A7: School students | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| A1: University students | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| A2: Computer professionals | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| A3: Computer operators | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| A4: University faculty | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| A5: University staff | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| A6: School teachers | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| A7: School students | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 |