When Is It Safe to Manually Lift a Patient

Details

• Personal Author:
  Waters, Thomas R.
• Description:
  In 1994 the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation-an ergonomics assessment tool that can be used to calculate the recommended weight limit for two-handed manual-lifting tasks. However, NIOSH excluded assessment of patient-handling tasks from the uses of the revised equation, arguing that such tasks involve too many variables. The equation in fact can be used to calculate a recommended weight limit for a limited range of patient-handling tasks in which the patient is cooperative and unlikely to move suddenly during the task. In general, the revised equation yields a recommended 35-lb. maximum weight limit for use in patient-handling tasks. When weight to be lifted exceeds this limit, assistive devices should be used. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Manual-lifting Musculoskeletal-system Physical-capacity Physical-stress Statistical-analysis Weight-factors Work-analysis Work-environment Work-performance Work-practices
• ISSN:
  0002-936X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  53-58
• Volume:
  107
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032713
• Citation:
  Am J Nurs 2007 Aug; 107(8):53-58
• Email:
  trw1@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  The American Journal of Nursing
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9c0fa908f2e749665f53ef238693e54bc8b5a25b43f16e6128fec104dcd8ffe62fe947f4a2eaf6769c45efadccccbb2916e758b81484a6b8b516df789f69d5b3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186586/cdc_186586_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 658.79 KB ]