Catherine Trask, PhD

Catherine Trask, PhD Assistant Professor Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture (CCHSA) University of Saskatchewan 103 Hospital Drive, PO Box 120 Saskatoon, SK S7N OW8 Canada Visiting address: RUH 3606 Phone: 306-966-5544 Fax: 306-966-8799 catherine.trask@usask.ca

Education

• PhD in Occupational and Environmental Hygiene.  University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (2008)
• BSc in Kinesiology (Honors), Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.  (2003)

Professional Roles

• Assistant professor at the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture (CCHSA)
• Adjunct Faculty Member, School of Environmental Health at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
• Affiliated Researcher, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research (CBF), University of Gävle, Sweden
• Leads Musculoskeletal Health Research in the University of Saskatchewan Ergonomics laboratory.

Areas of Interest

• Musculoskeletal health and MS injury/disorder prevention
• Exposure assessment evaluation, including cost-efficiency, feasibility for field studies, bias, and precision (particularly for biomechanical or ‘ergonomic’ exposures)
• Epidemiology of work-related exposures and musculoskeletal disorder outcomes
• Intervention evaluation using mixed methods: exposure outcomes, user experience, adoption/acceptance, productivity, economics, and health outcomes
• For more information, see the Ergonomics website

Current Research

• Ergo-Pig: Ergonomic Assessments of Pork Production Occupations (University of Sasaktchewan)
• Developing an Occupational Knee Exposure Sensor (University of Sasaktchewan)
• Hand Arm Vibration Exposure Library: Finding Research Utility in Occupational Measurements Collected for OSH Regulation Enforcement (University of Saskatchewan and Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety)
• Flight Loader study: postural assessments of airport baggage handlers (University of  Gävle, Sweden) 
• Cost-efficient modelling of physical work load – an empirical study of postures in industry (University of  Gävle, Sweden) 

Selected Publications:

Village, J., Trask, C., Chow, Y., Morrison, J.B., Koehoorn, M., Teschke, K. (2012) Assessing whole body vibration exposure for use in epidemiological studies of back injuries: Measurements; observations; and self-reports. Ergonomics 55(4): 415-424.

Trask, C., Teschke, K., Morrison, J., Johnson, P., Koehoorn, M., 2010.  Optimizing Sampling Strategies: Components of Low-Back EMG Variability in Five Heavy Industries.  Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  67(12): 853-860

Koehoorn, M., Xu, F., Village, J., Trask, C., and Teschke, K., 2010.  Back Injury Trajectories in Heavy Industries: Defining Outcomes for Epidemiological Research.  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. 52(9): 908-912

Trask, C., Teschke, K., Morrison, J., Village, J., Johnson, P., Koehoorn, M., 2010.  EMG estimated mean, peak, and cumulative spinal compression of workers  in five heavy industries. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.  40(4): 448-454

Trask, C., Teschke, K., Morrison, J., Village, J., Johnson, P., Koehoorn, M., 2010. Using Observation and Self-report to Predict Mean, 90th Percentile, and Cumulative Low Back Muscle Activity in Heavy Industry Workers.  Annals of Occupational Hygiene. 54(5): 595-606