Guide
OCRA vs NIOSH vs REBA: the complete guide
What each method measures, when it is the right choice, the data it needs and how to read its results — side by side.
Why the OCRA Checklist matters
Repetitive work of the hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders is where most work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limbs start. The OCRA Checklist is the screening method that ISO 11228-3 and ISO TR 12295 point to for mapping that risk across a plant. Its High-Precision version keeps the same scale and bands but works from measured seconds, and its score is now directly linked to the share of workers expected to be affected.
16
the new OCRA Checklist boundary between low and medium risk, up from 14, after validation on 11,734 exposed workers.
Occhipinti & Colombini, IEA 2021 Congress (LNNS 222)5 bands
from green to purple, with every upper limit included in its band, as set out in Dossier Ambiente no. 153.
Colombini & Occhipinti (eds.), Dossier Ambiente 153 (2026)~21%
of exposed workers expected to be affected by upper-limb disorders at an OCRA Index of 9.0, against about 5% at 2.2.
Occhipinti & Colombini, Ergonomics 50(11), 20072026
second edition of ISO 11228-3, the standard for repetitive movements and exertions of the upper limbs.
ISO 11228-3:2026From chapter 6
Which OCRA instrument do you need?
Answer up to four questions about the assessment you are planning. You get the OCRA instrument the guide recommends, with the reason behind it.
Question 1 of 4
Does the result have to support a decision about an individual worker, such as a return to work?
Question 2 of 4
Is the assessment for a job redesign, a return to work or a medico-legal case?
Question 3 of 4
Do you need to map many workstations and decide where to act first?
Question 4 of 4
Does the operator rotate between several repetitive tasks during the shift?
Your result
Use
If the upper limbs do not repeat the same pattern of actions, OCRA does not apply. Screen the postures with REBA and reassess if the work becomes repetitive.
Inside the guide
What the OCRA HP Checklist measures
Repetitive tasks, technical actions, standard versus High-Precision, and what the method does not cover.
The five factors in the score
Frequency, posture, stereotypy, complementary factors and force, and how each one is scored.
Recovery and duration
The recovery multiplier, valid recovery inside the cycle and the net duration of repetitive work.
Reading the score
The five risk bands, what the yellow zone really means, rounding and a worked example.
The 2026 update
The boundary moved from 14 to 16, the link between score and expected disorders, and the new ISO 11228-3.
Checklist, Index or multitask
When the Checklist is enough, when you need the Index and how to handle rotations and whole-plant maps.
Excerpt · Chapter 4
Reading the score
An OCRA Checklist score up to 7.5 is green and acceptable; above 22.5 it is purple, high risk. In between are three bands, yellow, orange and red, each with its upper limit included.
| OCRA Checklist score | Band | Risk level |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 7.5 | Green | Acceptable |
| Above 7.5, up to 11.0 | Yellow | Borderline |
| Above 11.0, up to 16.0 | Orange | Low |
| Above 16.0, up to 22.5 | Red | Medium |
| Above 22.5 | Purple | High |
The bands follow the 2026 OCRA dossier (Dossier Ambiente no. 153). Every upper limit belongs to its own band: a score of exactly 16.0 is still low risk, and medium risk starts above it.
The yellow band is not “safe”
The yellow band is a borderline zone. There is no scientific evidence that upper-limb disorders will develop at that exposure, and no evidence that they will not. Only green is evidence-based as acceptable. Read a yellow result as uncertainty: monitor the station and improve it when you can.
How Postura rounds the score
Postura rounds each score up to one decimal before showing it and classifying it, so the number and the colour always agree. A score of 7.50 stays 7.5 and is green; 7.501 becomes 7.6 and is yellow. Because all band limits are expressed to one decimal, the band is the same as for the unrounded score. This is a Postura convention, not a rule of the method.
Worked example
A single repetitive task, right side.
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Partial score (five factors) | 7.5 |
| Hours without adequate recovery | 3, so recovery multiplier 1.20 |
| Intrinsic score | 7.5 × 1.20 = 9.0 |
| Net duration of repetitive work | 454 minutes, so duration multiplier 1.00 |
| Final score | 9.0 × 1.00 = 9.0, yellow (borderline) |
The intrinsic and final scores coincide here only because the duration multiplier is 1. On its own, the task would be green: it is the break distribution that pushes it into yellow. That tells you where to act first.
One task is not the whole job
The final score of a single task does not replace the overall result of a rotation. If the operator moves between several repetitive tasks in the shift, the overall exposure comes from a multitask model, covered in chapter 6.
Written for the people who run and read OCRA assessments
HSE
HSE managers who present OCRA results to management and need to explain what each band means.
Ergonomics
Ergonomists and assessors who want a shared, up-to-date reference for the Checklist and the 2026 changes.
Occupational health
Occupational physicians who match assessments against workers' restrictions.
Frequently asked questions about the OCRA Checklist
What is the OCRA High-Precision Checklist?
The OCRA High-Precision Checklist is an evolution of the OCRA Checklist introduced in 2011 by the EPM research unit (Colombini, Occhipinti and colleagues). It keeps the same scoring scale, the same five risk bands and the same predictive model, but scores posture, force and complementary factors from the actual net time in seconds instead of estimated fractions of the cycle. It is the method Postura computes from video.
What is the OCRA Checklist?
The OCRA Checklist is a validated method for assessing the risk of repetitive work of the upper limbs. It scores five factors (frequency, posture, stereotypy, complementary factors and force) separately for the right and left side, corrects the result for recovery and for the duration of the repetitive work, and classifies it into five risk bands.
What are the OCRA Checklist risk bands?
Up to 7.5 is green, acceptable. Above 7.5 and up to 11.0 is yellow, borderline. Above 11.0 and up to 16.0 is orange, low risk. Above 16.0 and up to 22.5 is red, medium risk. Above 22.5 is purple, high risk. Each upper limit belongs to its own band, so a score of exactly 16.0 is still low risk.
Why did the boundary between low and medium risk change from 14 to 16?
A validation of the OCRA Checklist on 11,734 exposed workers, presented by Occhipinti and Colombini at the IEA 2021 Congress, linked the score directly to the expected prevalence of upper-limb disorders. On that basis the boundary was moved to 16, and the change is consolidated in the 2026 OCRA 30th-anniversary dossier.
Is a yellow OCRA score acceptable?
Not in a strict sense. The yellow band is a borderline zone: there is no scientific evidence that upper-limb disorders will develop at that exposure, and no evidence that they will not. Only the green band is evidence-based as safe, so a yellow result states uncertainty and deserves monitoring.
What is the difference between the OCRA Checklist and the OCRA Index?
Both assess the same risk and both are validated. The Checklist is faster and built for mapping many workstations. The Index is more analytical: it compares actual and recommended technical actions for each limb over the shift, and is recommended for job redesign, return-to-work and medico-legal assessments.
Does OCRA apply if there is no fixed cycle time?
Yes, if the work is repetitive. A task is repetitive when the same pattern of technical actions recurs during the shift, even without a takt time, for example picking orders of different sizes. In that case a video of one to four minutes of typical actions is used as the observed cycle.