Research area
Variation at work – measurement methods, physiological effects, interventions in working life
I received my PhD in 1993 from Karolinska Institutet/Arbetslivsinstitutet with a thesis on the physiological effects of different ways of varying physical workload, especially breaks. Since then, I have worked as a researcher at the Working Life Institute, Malmö University and since 2004 I have been employed at CBF, University of Gävle. Until 2020, I was research director of CBF. I was coordinator of the Forte Center "The body at work - from problem to potential" 2009-2021, and have been a member of expert groups at Forte and AFA insurance. 2008-2011 I was principal secretary of the Government's Work Environment Policy Knowledge Council, and currently I am on the board of Forte.
Current research interest
Physical variation is still a main interest: how to express variation in numbers, what are the physiological and psychological effects of different types and sizes of variation, and how to create jobs with appropriate variation that are also profitable for companies? A further important research question, related to variability in workload, is how to design a statistically and resource-efficient strategy for measuring workload.
Keywords: occupational physiology, ergonomics, physical load, fatigue, variability, measurement strategies
Ongoing framework projects
Equal occupational health? Gender, work organization and physical strain in the retail sector
Responsible: Svend Erik Mathiassen
Strategies for collecting data on physical workload
Responsible: Svend Erik Mathiassen
Analysis of cost and efficiency of data collection
Responsible: Svend Erik Mathiassen
Quantification and magnitude of variation in physical workload across occupations
Responsible: Svend Erik Mathiassen
Motor variability in work-related tasks - magnitude and physiological effect
Responsible: Svend Erik Mathiassen
Flexible work and employment arrangements
Responsible: Gunnar Bergström
Collaboration in research projects
Collaboration in research projects
Observer variability in different principles for observing work postures
Susanne Wulff Svendsen External link, opens in new window., Danish Ramazzini Center, Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital
Jens Wahlström External link, opens in new window., Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University Hospital
From CBF: Per Liv, Marina Heiden
The importance of the normalization procedure in EMG recordings of lumbar strain
From CBF: Jennie Jackson
Comparison of the statistical performance of observations and direct measurements of working postures in hairdressers
Susanne Wulff Svendsen External link, opens in new window., Danish Ramazzini Center, Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital
Jens Wahlström External link, opens in new window., Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University Hospital
From CBF: Per Liv, Marina Heiden
PATH method performance in different collection procedures
Laura Punnett, Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts Lowell
From CBF: Jennie Jackson, Per Liv
Bias and precision of percentiles of work postures in short-term sampling
Mikael Forsman, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet
Jens Wahlström External link, opens in new window., Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University Hospital
Measurement strategies for estimation of variance components
Susanne Wulff Svendsen External link, opens in new window., Danish Ramazzini Center, Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital
From CBF: Per Liv, Marina Heiden
Cost and efficiency of different procedures for observing work postures from video
Apostolos Bantekas, Faculty of Education and Economics, University of Gävle
From CBF: Mahmoud Rezagholi, Per Liv
Comparison of cost and efficiency of observation and technical measurements of work postures
Apostolos Bantekas, Faculty of Education and Economics, University of Gävle
From CBF: Mahmoud Rezagholi, Per Liv
Development of econometric models for cost-effectiveness analysis
Apostolos Bantekas, Faculty of Education and Economics, University of Gävle
From CBF: Mahmoud Rezagholi, Per Liv
Modeling of heavy manual handling in scaffolding work based on invoice data on scaffold weight and size
Allard van der Beek, VU University Medical Center, EMGO, Amsterdam
Alex Burdorf, Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam
Cost and effectiveness of recording back strain with self-report, observation and direct measurements
From CBF: Catherine Trask
Cost and effectiveness of assessing work postures of air loaders by self-reporting, observation, direct measurements and modeling
Erik Alphonse External link, opens in new window., Transport Sector Occupational and Work Environment Committee (TYA)
Jens Wahlström External link, opens in new window., Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University Hospital
Linda Rose, KTH School of Technology and Health
From CBF: Eva Bergsten, Catherine Trask, Marina Heiden, Jennie Jackson
EMG-based measures of patterns of work and rest - effects of data processing methodology
Bo Veiersted External link, opens in new window., National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo
Mikael Forsman, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet
Time patterns of activity and inactivity in office workers
Allan Toomingas, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
Leon Straker, Curtin University of Technology, Perth
Variation expressed by EVA - state-of-the-art review
Pete Johnson, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, University of Washington, Seattle
Leon Straker, School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth
Comparison of different variables that can express (aspects of) variation through analysis of simulated exposure profiles
Pascal Madeleine, Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University
Fatigue development, blood flow and EMG at different controlled time patterns of work
Richard Wells, Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo
The work/pause relationship in the movement pattern of fatigue development in stereotypical repetitive work
Tim Bosch, TNO, The Netherlands
Jaap van Diëen, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
From the CBF: Eugene Lyskov, David Hallman
Quantification of motor variability in a model work; probably a simple, repetitive arm work with low biomechanical load
From CBF: Divya Srinivasan, Mats Djupsjöbacka, Dmitry Domkin
Within- and between-individual variance of different measures of motor variability in experimental and field tasks
Jonas Sandlund, External link, opens in new window. Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University
From CBF: Mats Djupsjöbacka, Divya Srinivasan
The effect on motor variability and physiological fatigue of combinations of physical and mental load in a simple manual labor task
From CBF: Divya Srinivasan, Mats Djupsjöbacka, Dmitry Domkin