Revised Strain Index (RSI)

Developed by: The Ergonomics Center, North Carolina State University

Description: A tool to assess hand and wrist MSD risk. The user inputs information about effort required, wrist posture, and timing details about the task, and calculates a score (Strain Index) that assesses the task as either “safe” or “hazardous”. This tool is relatively unique in that it takes relative active and rest times during repetitive work into account, but the user needs to input numerical values (or estimates) in order to complete the assessment. This resource is most appropriate for repetitive tasks that have clearly defined sub-tasks.

An excel-based version of this calculator is also available.

Keywords: hand, wrist, upper limb, repetitive, effort, cycle, rest, duration, intensity, risk