Hose handling, opening and closing manholes, turning switches and coupling railway wagons by hand: this is all heavy work, and the physical load of the so-called 'movement operators' who do this job, is an important concern for their companies. The aim of this study was to draw up and justify possible plans to optimize their work situation and reduce their physical load. 

The pysical load of the 'movement operators' was assessed by use of a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). The methods for HTA are interviews with workers and management, and observation of actual operations. Observations were performed using both The Observer Mobile (with a Psion Workabout handheld computer) and The Observer Video-Pro.

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