• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.165-172
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ergonomic verification of suitability of the 4-wheeled hand cart to prevent musculoskeletal problems in the firing test range. Because of the increasing amount of firing test, the needs to develop a projectile transferring device such as 4-wheeled hand cart has been increased. For the 4-wheeled hand cart, the lifting and carrying activity in the manual handling method were transformed to pushing activity. The risk of low back pain for lifting and carrying the projectile by manual was estimated by NLE and 3D SSPP. On the other hand, the risk for pushing the 4-wheeled hand cart was estimated by psychophysical and biomechanical method such as Mital's equation, Snook's table and 3D SSPP. It was shown that the 4-wheeled hand cart reduced the risk of low back pain drastically with higher efficiency and design compatibility.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.371-378
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• 2014

Manual materials handling tasks are the main risk factors for the work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Many assistant tools for manual materials handling are being used in various kind of industries. One of them is a 4-wheeled cart which is widely used in manufacturing factories, hospitals, etc. The major force required to control the 4-wheeled cart is pushing and pulling. There are two types of handles being used for the 4-wheeled cart : vertical type (two vertical handles), and horizontal type (one horizontal handle). This study tried to investigate the pushing forces and subjective discomforts (hand/writst, shoulder, low back, and overall) of the two handle types with different handle height and distance conditions. Twelve healthy male students (mean age = 23.4 years) participated in the experiment. The independent variables were handle angle (horizontal, vertical), handle height (low, medium, high), and handle distance (narrow, medium, wide). The full factorial design was used for the experiment and the maximum pushing forces were measured in 18 different conditions ($2{\times}3{\times}3$). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was conducted to test the effects of the independent variables on the pushing force and discomfort levels. Handle height and angle were found to be the critical design factors that affect the maximal pushing forces and subjective discomfort. In the middle height, subjects exerted higher pushing forces, and experience lower discomfort levels compared to the high, and low height. There was no statistical influence of the handle distance to the pushing forces and subjective discomfort levels. It was found out that the effects of the handle angle (horizontal and vertical) on both pushing force and subjective discomfort were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The vertical handle revealed higher pushing force and lower discomfort level than the horizontal handle. The reason for that was thought to be the different postures of the hand when grasping the handles. The horizontal handle induced pronaton of the hand and made hand posture more deviated from the neutral position.