A biomechanically based approach for optimal design of construction helmets.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Pan C ; Romano N ; Weaver D ; Whisler R ; Wimer B ; Wu J
• Description:
  Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are among the most common severely disabling injuries in the United States. Construction is the leading industry for serious TBI. Approximately 500,000 new cases occur annually. Of those, 30%-50% are moderate to fatal head injuries. Helmets used by construction site workers are the basic, essential personal protection equipment to reduce the risks of TBI. In the current study, we proposed a biomechanically based approach to optimize the design of the construction helmet by using a finite element (FE) model. The FE models were constructed using the commercially available software ABAQUS (version 6.9). The head-brain-neck complex consists of scalp, skin tissues, skull, cervical vertebra (C1, C2, and C3), discs, brain, brain stem, cerebrospinal fluid (CFS), and spinal cord. The brain includes the cerebrum and cerebellum; and the brain stem contains the midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata. For this simulation, we considered the spinal cord to include the surrounding pia mater. The CFS is considered to cover over the entire external surface of the brain, brain stem, and the spinal cord. The discs contain both annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus. Within each of these anatomical components (i.e., brain, brain stem, CFS, spinal cord, and discs), the material was considered as uniform and isotropic. The FE model of the protective helmet consists in a shell and a suspension system. The FE model was applied to a practical problem: the "struck by" issue in various industrial settings. To test the protection afforded by a helmet, a cylindrical object was dropped from different heights and impacted the top of the helmet. The simulations were performed using an implicit dynamic procedure. We calculated the head accelerations and pressures at different locations within the brain tissue in response to the impacts. The proposed biomechanical model would provide a tool to improve the design of the construction helmet.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Preceptorship Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace
• Keywords:
  Brain-damage Brain-function Construction-industry Exposure-levels Head-injuries Head-protective-equipment Headgear Injuries Models Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Risk-factors Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; 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:
  59-60
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047359
• Citation:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2015, (NOIRS 2015), May 19-21, 2015, Kingwood, West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2015 May; :59-60
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:95f386c2625ed153041530c54fb8047320e5fddc1cfb98540adffaea4e5a45c6a41e9ca00a430894b733fdcff4e725e8ad2b3e875aea7a3a2e76d90e8dd220ea
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181662/cdc_181662_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB ]