A study of physiological and work study indices of forestry work

Reasons for the use of physiological methods of assessment in addition to classical work study methods are given for the case of manual work. A study of use of both assessment processes with regard to a series of forestry tasks is presented. Poor correlations between physiological and work study assessments were obtained and since the tasks were manual in nature it was presumed the physiological methods offered greater accuracy. A test study was used to support this view. Finally, the paper suggests a physiological index of manual effort, related to individual capacity, which might be capable of application in normal field work.