• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.123-129
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• 2013

Among various manual materials handling tasks, pushing/pulling was known to be one of the risk factors for the low back and shoulder musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study was conducted to find out an optimal solution set of the handle height and distance for 4-wheel cart with two vertical handles. Ten male college students participated in the pushing force measurement experiment. The face-centered cube design, one of the central composite designs, was applied for the experiment, and the isometric voluntary pushing force was measured in 9 treatment conditions. The second order response surface model was predicted by using the pushing strength as a response variable, and the handle height and distance as independent factors. According to the 2nd order response model, the handle height and distance showed nonlinear relationship with the isometric pushing strength. To maximize the 2nd order response model (pushing force), the handle height and distance were optimized. The optimal handle height was 'xyphoid process height - stature', and the optimal handle distance was '$1.25{\times}shoulder$ width'. When calculated using the anthropometric data of the subjects of this study, the optimal handle height was $115.4{\pm}3.4$ cm, slightly higher than the elbow height, and the handle distance was $52.9{\pm}2.3$ cm.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.23-36
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• 1997

The objective of this study was to make a comparison of the oxygen consumption rates during the lifting activities and the physiological criteria of the recommended weights of RWL, AL, and MPL by NIOSH Guideline. The physical Work Capacity (PWC) based on the bicycle ergometer was 2562.71ml/min, and the one based on the treadmill was 2874.89ml/min for the college male students of Korea. Lifting activities with four different lifting frequencies(2, 5, 8, 11 lifts/min) for one lifting range from floor to 76cm height were studied. The oxygen consumption rates and the heart rates were measured or recorded while subjects were lifting the weight of RWL, AL, and MPL. The heart rates and the oxygen consumption rates increased as the frequency increased from 2 to lifts/min. However, those slightly decreased at the frequency of 11 lifts/ min. The measured oxygen consumption rates were ranging from 2.3% to 29.6% higher than the physiological criteria 620, 700, and 1000ml/min, respectively, of the RWL, AL, and MPL for all the lifting frequencies (5, 8, 11 lift/min) except 2 lifts/min. It si suggested that the physiological criteria of NIOSH Guideline should be based on the lifting PWC, which can consider the type of lifting activity and the frequency of the task, rather than using the PWC by ergometer or treadmill. The measured oxygen consumption rates were ranging from 13.26% to 40.11% higher than the values estimated using the models by Garg and Kim. From these findings it is suggested that the NIOSH Equation should not be directly applied to Korean without resonable modifications.