• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.72-81
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• 2014

Even though two-hands lifting/lowering activity of manual materials handling tasks are prevalent at the industrial site, many manual materials handling tasks which require the worker to perform one-hand lifting/lowering are also very common at the industrial site, forestry, farming, and daily life. The objective of this study was to compare one-hand lowering activity to lifting activity in terms of biomechanical stress for the range of lowering heights from knuckle height to 10cm above floor level with two workload 7.5kg and 15.0kg. Eight male subjects with LMM were asked to perform lifting/lowering tasks using both a one-handed (left-hand and right-hand) as well as a two-handed technique. Spinal loading was estimated through an EMG-assisted free-dynamic biomechanical model. The biomechanical stress of one-hand lowering activity was shown to be 43% lower than that of one-hand lifting activity. It was claimed that the biomechanical stress for one-hand lifting/lowering activity is almost twice (194%) of the one for two-hands lifting/lowering activity. It was also found that biomechanical stress by one-hand lowering/lifting activity with the half workload of two-hands lowering/lifting activity was greater than that of the two-hands lowering/lifting activity. Therefore, it might be a risk to consider the RWL of one-hand lowering/lifting activity to simply be a half of the RWL of two-hands lowering/lifting activity recommended by NIOSH.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.145-153
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• 2010

Activity of lifting has been a major issue in many research area related in manual materials handling tasks. However, the opposite activity of lifting, lowering, has received much less attention. It is known that 52% of all box-handling tasks were lowering in nature. The difference in stress between lifting and lowering activity is not well understood. A simple assumption that these two activities are very similar has been established and widely used. However, this simple assumption may be questionable. The objective of this study was to compare a lifting activity and a lowering activity based on the three different ergonomic approaches; (1) biomechanical, (2) physiological, (3) psychophysical approach. It was found that the stress of lowering activity was from 65% to 93%, from 87% to 97%, and from 87% to 96% according to the biomechanical, physiological, and psychophysical point of view, respectively. It is concluded from the result of this study that the stress of lowering activity is lower than that of the lifting activity. The maximum compressive force on the lumbro-sacral joint (L5/S1) was 158% and 108% respectively, for lifting and lowering activity of which the work load is the 58% of Action Limit. It is suggested that the NIOSH AL and RWL and biomechanical criteria should be reconsidered especially for the low frequency of lifting activities.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.325-341
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study is to suggest the guidelines of operation phases to minimize injuries and musculoskeletal disorders in manual material handling (MMH) tasks through literature reviews. The guidelines are presented as the preparing phase, lifting phase, carrying phase, and lowering phase. Also, we summarized the non-numerical general guidelines for MMH tasks. Background: Manual material handling is still a main cause to musculoskeletal disorders. Method: Procedures of a literature review are classified into database selection, keyword search, title review, abstract review related to literature selection, guideline review and arrangement. A total 48 papers and books were analyzed in detail by title and abstract reviews. Results: In the preparing phase, we suggested the basic conditions in MMH, preparing procedure, clothing and protective equipment, and education. In the lifting and carrying phases, we recommended maximal acceptable weight by frequency and body posture. In the lowering phase, we suggested the lowest weight and safety body postures. Finally, we recommended general guidelines and guideline items for MMH. General guidelines are presented to suggest worker selection, technical education, and work design parts. Conclusion: We suggested the guidelines on the four operation phases of MMH tasks such as preparing, lifting, carrying, and lowering phases. Application: The findings of this study can be utilized as guidelines for proactive recommendations according to workers in MMH tasks.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.95-99
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• 1997

Most studies in manual material handling (MMH) have paid more attention to single MMH activities-lifting, lowering, carrying, holding, pushing or pulling and have ignored combined activities. Also, many studies have been involved with two-handed MMH activities rather than to one-handed MMH activities. Very few studies are reported on the determination of workers' capacities for combinations of one-handed MMH activities (e.g. lifting a box, then carrying the box, and lowering the box). The objective of this study was to utilize the psychophysical approach to examine the combinations of lifting, carrying and lowering activities from a simulated industrial task involving one- handed and two-handed combined tasks and to develop mathematical models for combined tasks. Ten male students served as subjects for the study. The capacities that were determined as the maximum acceptable weight workloads for 1 hr work period for one-handed and two-handed combined tasks-lifting a box from floor to knuckle height, carrying the box for 4.3 m, and lowering the box form knuckle to floor height -were determined psychophysically under three frequencies: six handlings per minute, one handling per minute and one handling per five minutes. Combined MMH capacities models for one-handed tasks were developed. Te advantages and disadvantages of different models are discussed.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.413-420
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• 2013

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare one-hand and two-hands lowering activity in terms of biomechanical stress for the range of lowering heights from knuckle height to 10cm above floor level. Background: Even though two-hands lifting/lowering activity of manual materials handling tasks are prevalent at the industrial site, many manual materials handling tasks which require the worker to perform one-hand lifting/lowering are also very common at the industrial site and forestry and farming. Method: Eight male subjects were asked to perform lowering tasks using both a one-handed as well as a two-handed lowering technique. Trunk muscle electromyographic activity was recorded while the subjects performed the lowering tasks. This information was used as input to an EMG-assisted free-dynamic biomechanical model that predicted spinal loading in three dimensions. Results: It was shown that for the left-hand lowering tasks, the values of moment, lateral shear force, A-P shear force, and compressive force were increased by the average 6%, as the workload was increased twice from 7.5kg to 15kg. For the right-hand lowering task, these were increased by the average 17%. For the two-hands lowering tasks, these were increased by the average 14%. Conclusion: Even though the effect of workload on the biomechanical stress for both one-hand and two-hands lowering tasks is not so significant for the workload less than 15kg, it can be claimed that the biomechanical stress for one-hand lowering is greater than for two-hands lowering tasks. Therefore, it can be concluded that asymmetrical lowering posture would give greater influence on the biomechanical stress than the workload effect for one-hand lowering activity. Application: The result of this study may be used to provide guidelines of recommended safe weights for tasks involved in one-hand lowering activity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.22 no.50
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• pp.65-73
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• 1999

Most psychophysical studies in manual material handling (MMH) have paid more attention to two-handed MMH activities than to one-handed MMH activities. Also, studies are involved only with single MMH activities - lifting, lowering, carrying, holding, pushing or pulling. Very few studies are reported on the determination of workers' capacities for combinations of one-handed MMH activities (lifting a box, then carrying the box, and lowering the box). The objective of this study was to find the psychophysical and physiological responses of human subjects from a simulated industrial task involving one-handed and two-handed combined tasks. The capacities that were determined as the maximum acceptable weight workloads for 1 hr work period for one-handed and two-handed combined tasks - lifting a box from floor to knuckle height, carrying the box for 4.3 m, and lowering the box from knuckle to floor height - were determined psychophysically under three frequencies: six handlings per minute, one handling per minute and one handling per five minutes. In addition to maximum acceptable weight, heart rate and RPE values on wholebody, back, and arm were also measured as responses.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.15-22
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to define the effects of noise and background music on the trunk muscle fatigue during dynamic lifting and lowering tasks. Six healthy male subjects with no prior history of low back disorders participated in this study. The participants were exposed to two levels of background noise such as 40dB noise and 90dB noise and three levels of background music such as no music, slow music, and fast music. Six different combinations of background noise and background music were played while the participants were performing the lifting task at 15% level of Maximum Voluntary Contraction. Electromyography signals from six muscles were collected and fatigue levels were analyzed quantitatively. In results, the 90dB noise increased trunk muscle fatigue and slowed down the recovery. The trunk muscle fatigue was the lowest when the fast music was played for as background. After recovery, the 90dB noise increased trunk muscle fatigue. The trunk muscle fatigue was the lowest when the slow music was played for as background. The results can be useful to manage the cumulative fatigue of trunk muscles due to background noise and music during repetitive lifting and lowering tasks in industry.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the cumulative fatigue of trunk muscles andthe period of recovery time during repetitive lifting and lowering tasks with symmetric and asymmetric postures.Ten subjects participated in the experiment. Subjects had 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 minutes recovery time respectivelywhile they were performing the lifting and lowering task repeatedly for 3 minutes with the weight equivalent to25% level of MVC. EMG signals from ten trunk muscles were collected and the fatigue level was analyzedquantitatively. In results, the local muscle fatigue was no longer accumulated when 5 minutes recovery time wasgiven in symmetric position. For asymmetric position, it took longer minutes to prevent the fatigue accumul-ation. Different trunk muscles indicated slightly different recovery patterns in terms of MPF (Mean Powerfrequency) value.This result would help ergonomist design the length of recovery time to control the cumulative fatigue of trunkmuscles in industry with repetitive lifting and lowering task.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.145-145
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• 2017

농작업 자세 중에서 중량물을 반복적으로 들고 내리는 자세는 요통과 같은 근골격계 질환의 유발행위로 분류된다. 이는 인간공학적 유해요인 평가도구에 의해 위험도 별로 정량화 할 수 있다. 이러한 평가방법은 농작업 자세를 개선하여 근골격계 질환을 예방할 수 있다는 측면에서 매우 중요하다. 그러나 기존의 작업자세 부하 평가방법들은 동적 자세를 평가하는데 있어 어려움이 있을 뿐 만 아니라 평가 과정에서 관찰자의 주관성이 개입 될 수 있다는 한계점을 갖고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 중량물을 들고 내리는 동적 자세에서 발생하는 부하를 Energy expenditure를 이용하여 평가할 수 있는 시스템을 개발하는 것이다. Energy expenditure는 체중, 성별 등과 같은 작업자 관련 변수와 중량물의 무게, 들어 올리는 높이, 빈도수 등과 같은 작업환경 관련 변수를 이용하여 최대 산소소비량을 예측하는 방법이다. 본 연구에서 제안하는 작업자 및 작업환경 관련 변수를 자동 측정하는 시스템은 초음파 거리측정 센서와 깔창 형태의 센서를 이용하여 구성하였다. 이를 통해 남성(6명), 여성(6명)을 대상으로 20kg의 중량물을 들고 내리는 동작에서 발생하는 Energy expenditure 값을 산출하였고, 산소소비량 측정 장비를 통해 획득된 최대 산소소비량($VO_2$)과 비교하여 검증하였다. 여성을 대상으로 한 Energy expenditure 값과 최대 산소소비량 간 상관관계는 0.984로 나타났으며, 남성의 경우에는 0.998로 높은 상관관계를 보였다. 이와 같은 에너지 대사율 평가시스템은 연속적이고 반복적인 실제 농작업 자세 부하를 동적인 상태에서 평가할 수 있을 뿐 만 아니라 산소소비량 측정기와 같은 추가적인 장비가 필요하지 않아 현장 적용성이 뛰어 날 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.157-166
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• 2008

Protected horticulture is labor-intensive. It necessitates great amount of labor in many tasks including grafting, pollination and harvesting. Particularly, carrying crops involves the most intensive labor which leads to a high risk of musculoskeletal disorder. Thus, this study aims at developing an ergonomic vehicle to reduce this intensity of labor and ergonomic evaluation by applying the newly developed vehicles to REBA. 5 healthy male subjects with no records of any musculoskeletal disorder were participated in this study. The experimental units were divided into three categories: lifting, lowering and pushing tasks. The results showed that the developed vehicle received less loads in group B (arms and wrists) than in group A (trunk, neck and legs). Especially, the developed vehicle scored $1.0{\sim}4.4$ in group C on REBA while the conventional wheelbarrow got $3.0{\sim}7.6$, regardless of working postures. In conclusion, the developed ergonomic vehicle provided less loads for human bodies compared to the conventional one.