Multiple criteria decision-making for the resolution of conflicting ergonomic knowledge in manual materials handling

The ergonomic design of manual materials handling tasks typically utilizes one or more of three approaches; biomechanical, physiological, and psychophysical. Unfortunately, a comprehensive design is rarely obtained because of the difficulty of resolving the conflicting guidelines and criteria for each of the three approaches. This paper describes a methodology utilizing the multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) process for resolving this conflict. This approach calculates the ratio of the contribution from each type of stress to an overall stress level as determined by the unacceptability of this stress to the user. An example is presented to demonstrate this technique.