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REBA worksheet (Rapid Entire Body Assessment)

REBA, the Rapid Entire Body Assessment, scores the risk of one working posture from 1 to 15. You score the trunk, neck and legs and add the load, score the upper arm, lower arm and wrist and add the hand coupling, combine the two through Tables A, B and C, add an activity score, and read one of five action levels, from negligible to very high, action now. The method is Sue Hignett and Lynn McAtamney's, published in Applied Ergonomics in 2000. This template's PDF has angle diagrams for each body part, the three tables and a paper record; the Excel scores up to six postures side by side from drop-downs, does every table lookup, names any missing input, and compares a posture before and after a change. REBA is a screening tool for postures, not a diagnosis: use it on the postures a screening checklist flags.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the REBA worksheetSix cards with angle band diagrams and tick boxes for trunk, neck, legs, upper arm, lower arm and wrist, load and coupling choices, and score boxes for Table A, score A, Table B, score B, Table C, activity and the REBA score.
Angle diagrams for six body partsPosture drop-downsTables A, B and CLoad, coupling and activityScore and action levelMissing-input checkBefore and after comparisonWorked example

When to use it

When to use a REBA worksheet

  • When the ergonomic risk assessment checklist flags awkward postures on a task and you need a number to rank them and track the fix.
  • Before and after a workstation change, to show that the change took the worst posture down an action level.
  • When people report back, neck or shoulder pain on a job that mixes bending, reaching and handling loads.
  • On a new station or line layout, scoring the planned postures from a mock-up or a video of the trial build.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Watch the task and pick the postures

    Watch several cycles, on more than one person if you can, and film from the side and the front. Score the postures held longest, repeated most, or furthest from neutral, one column each.

  2. 2

    Measure the angles from a still frame

    Trunk and neck flexion or extension, knee bend, upper arm, elbow and wrist angles, against the neutral position. Pick the band in each drop-down. On a band edge, exactly 20 degrees for example, use the lower band.

  3. 3

    Add the adjustments

    Yes for a twisted or side-bent trunk or neck, an abducted or rotated arm, a raised shoulder, a bent or twisted wrist, or a shock load. Yes for an arm that is supported or hangs with gravity: it takes 1 off the upper arm score, never below 1.

  4. 4

    Choose the load and the coupling

    Load or force: under 5 kg, 5 to 10 kg, or over 10 kg. Coupling: good, fair, poor or unacceptable, from the hand hold. Score the arm and wrist on the side under more load, or score both sides in two columns.

  5. 5

    Mark the activity

    One point each if a body part is held still over a minute, small actions repeat more than 4 times a minute, or the posture changes fast and wide or the base is unstable. The sheet then reads Tables A, B and C and gives the score and action level.

  6. 6

    Change the job, then score it again

    Look at which body part drives score A or score B, change the workstation there first, and score the same step after the change on the Before and after sheet.

Action levels

What each REBA score means

The five action levels of Hignett and McAtamney (2000), as the Ergonautas guide, the Cornell University REBA slides and the Ergonomics Plus worksheet print them. Action includes further assessment.

  • 1

    Action level
    0
    Risk level
    Negligible
    Action
    None necessary
  • 2 to 3

    Action level
    1
    Risk level
    Low
    Action
    May be necessary
  • 4 to 7

    Action level
    2
    Risk level
    Medium
    Action
    Necessary
  • 8 to 10

    Action level
    3
    Risk level
    High
    Action
    Necessary soon
  • 11 to 15

    Action level
    4
    Risk level
    Very high
    Action
    Necessary now

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example: case packing at the end of a filling line, with 12 kg cases moved from a conveyor onto a pallet on the floor, right side scored from phone video (illustrative).

The example's worst step, scored through the three tables

REBA = Table C (score A, score B) + activity

Score A = Table A (trunk, neck, legs) + load. Score B = Table B (upper arm, lower arm, wrist) + coupling.

  1. Score A =Table A (trunk 5, neck 2, legs 2) = 7, plus 2 for the load= 9
  2. Score B =Table B (upper arm 3, lower arm 2, wrist 2) = 5, plus 1 for a fair hand hold= 6
  3. REBA =Table C (9, 6) = 10, plus 1 for the rapid, wide change of posture= 11
Very high, action level 411

REBA score, placing a case on the bottom layer

Before
11 (very high)
With lift
4 (medium)

Placing a 12 kg case on the bottom pallet layer. Table A for trunk 5, neck 2 and legs 2 gives 7, plus 2 for the load: score A 9. Table B for upper arm 3, lower arm 2 and wrist 2 gives 5, plus 1 for a fair hand hold: score B 6. Table C for 9 and 6 gives 10, plus 1 for the rapid, wide change of posture: REBA 11, very high. With a spring pallet lift and a turntable the same step scores 4, medium.

The 12 kg load still adds 2 to score A on every step, so the lift goes to the NIOSH lifting equation next.
  • Placing a case on the bottom layer: trunk over 60 degrees of flexion and twisted (5), neck in extension (2), knees bent 30 to 60 degrees (legs 2). Table A gives 7, plus 2 for the load: score A 9.
  • Arms: upper arm 45 to 90 degrees (3), elbow under 60 degrees (2), wrist over 15 degrees (2). Table B gives 5, plus 1 for a fair hand hold: score B 6.
  • Table C for 9 and 6 is 10, plus 1 for the rapid, wide change of posture: REBA 11, very high, action now. Picking the case from the conveyor with a twist scores 4.
  • A spring pallet lift keeps the top layer at waist height and a turntable removes the twist. Both steps then score 4: trunk 2, neck 1, legs 1, Table A 2 plus 2 for the load, score B 2, Table C 4.

The worst step drops from 11 (very high, action level 4) to 4 (medium, action level 2). The 12 kg load still adds 2 to score A on every step, so the lift goes to the NIOSH lifting equation next.

Common mistakes

  • Scoring a convenient posture

    REBA scores the posture you pick. Pick the worst, the most repeated and the longest held, from video, not the one that was easy to photograph.

  • Treating the score as a diagnosis

    It is a screening score for one posture. It does not add up exposure over a shift, so a medium score on a posture held all day can matter more than a high one held for seconds.

  • Using REBA for fast, repetitive hand work

    Activity adds at most 3 points, whatever the rate. For short-cycle hand and wrist work, use a method built for repetition as well.

  • Fixing the load with training

    A lifting course leaves the 12 kg case and the floor-level pallet where they were. Change the height, the reach or the weight first.

  • Not rescoring after the change

    Score the same step the same way after the change. A fix can move strain to the arms or the neck as easily as remove it.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

In LeanSuite the AI ergonomic study works from ordinary phone video: it maps 18 body joints on every frame, scores REBA or RULA, and flags the worst postures with suggested engineering controls.

See it in a 45-minute demo

FAQ

REBA worksheet (Rapid Entire Body Assessment): common questions

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