2.8. Rapid upper limb assessment (RULA)
The RULA method (McAtamney and Nigel Corlett, 1993) has
been used to evaluate the level of ergonomic risk by observation of
the posture of participants while they were tapping the rubber
trees at their plantations. Several scores evaluating the posture of
different body parts were obtained through this method. In this
assessment, the posture risk scores of the upper arms, neck, and
back ranged from 1 to 6, the lower arms and wrist risk scores
ranged from 1 to 4 and the leg risk scores ranged from 1 to 2. A
score of 1 indicates the ‘‘best’’ or most natural posture. Higher
scores show increasingly more unbalanced positions. The RULA
grand score was produced by a special combination table of risk
scores in upper arms, lower arms, wrists, neck, trunk and legs