Industrial Health
Online ISSN : 1880-8026
Print ISSN : 0019-8366
ISSN-L : 0019-8366
Original Articles
Assessing Combined Exposures of Whole-body Vibration and Awkward Posture― Further Results from Application of a Simultaneous Field Measurement Methodology
Nastaran RAFFLERIngo HERMANNSDetlef SAYNBenno GÖRESRolf ELLEGASTJörg RISSLER
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2010 Volume 48 Issue 5 Pages 638-644

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Abstract

The drivers of ten vehicles (tram, helicopter, saloon car, van, forklift, two mobile excavators, wheel loader, tractor, elevating platform truck) were studied with regard to the combined exposures of whole-body vibration and awkward posture during occupational tasks. Seven degrees of freedom (DOFs), or body angles, were recorded as a function of time by means of the CUELA measuring system (Computer-assisted registration and long-term analysis of musculoskeletal workloads) for the purpose of posture assessment. The vibrational exposure is expressed as the vector sum of the frequency-weighted accelerations in the three Cartesian coordinates; these were recorded simultaneously with the posture measurement. Based upon the percentage of working time spent under different workloads, a scheme is proposed for classification of the two exposures into three categories. In addition, a risk of adverse health effects classified as low, possible or high can be assigned to the combination of the two exposures. With regard to posture, the most severe exposure was measured for the drivers of the wheel loader and for the tractor driver, whereas the lowest exposure was measured for the helicopter pilots and van drivers. With regard to the combination of whole-body and posture exposures, the tractor driver and the elevating platform truck driver exhibited the highest workloads.

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© 2010 by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
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