Perceived postural sway and discomfort during simulated drywall lifting and hanging tasks.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chiou SS ; Long DJ ; Pan CS ; Skidmore PO ; Zwiener JY
• Description:
  This study identified the perceived postural sway and discomfort experienced by construction workers performing simulated drywall lifting and hanging tasks under laboratory conditions. Sixty construction workers (mean age = 34.4 +/- 8.5 years) with at least 6 months of installation experience (mean experience = 8.7 +/- 6.1 years) participated in this study. From a previous field study, four methods each for the tasks of lifting and hanging drywall were identified. Participants were assigned in random order to one lifting and one hanging method. Subjects then performed four replications of the assigned lifting and hanging methods. To determine subject perception of postural instability and whole body discomfort, participants were verbally asked a questionnaire at the completion of each replication. An ANOVA with repeated measures was performed to determine which, if any, of the lifting or hanging methods were perceived by subjects as causing significantly more postural sway or discomfort. For the hanging tasks, the horizontal hanging of drywall onto a wall was perceived as causing significantly more postural sway and discomfort than the horizontal hanging of drywall onto a ceiling (p<.05). Horizontal hanging of drywall onto a wall was also perceived as causing more discomfort than the vertical hanging of drywall onto a ceiling (p<.05). Among the four lifting tasks, there were no significant differences perceived by subjects for either postural sway or discomfort. This study provides subjective balance measures for drywall lifting and hanging tasks. These results, when combined with parallel studies on kinetics and kinematics as well as the field studies, will allow recommendations for the safest lifting and hanging methods for reducing fall injuries.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Carcinogens Fetus Hazardous Substances Laboratories Occupational Health Safety Solvents Teratogenesis Urogenital System
• Keywords:
  Accident Prevention Construction Industry Construction Workers Epidemiology Humans Injuries Injury Prevention Manual Lifting Manual Materials Handling Materials Handling Surveillance Programs Traumatic Injuries

  More +
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  69
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20020988
• Citation:
  NOIRS 2000 Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2000, October 17-19, 2000, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, PA: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2000 Oct; :69
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NOIRS 2000 Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2000, October 17-19, 2000, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bebca49270d1985bb06fd778b15e5592c361e434e30945d3b246457cb9788fb09bb7296053d2147061bee781cc5e4e02347cb0b0c8c69c47145dacd24f8bf0bf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181088/cdc_181088_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 421.19 KB ]