Ergonomic assessment of floor-based and overhead lifts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dick R ; Lowe, Brian D. ; Parsons K ; Waters, Thomas R. ; Werren D
• Description:
  Manual full-body vertical lifts of patients have high risk for developing musculoskeletal disorders. Two primary types of battery-powered lift assist devices are available for these tasks: floor-based and overhead-mounted devices. Studies suggest that the operation of floor-based devises may require excessive pushing and pulling forces and that overhead-mounted devices are safer and require lower operating forces. This study evaluated required operating hand forces and resulting biomechanical spinal loading for overhead-mounted lifts versus floor-based lifts across various floor surfaces and patient weight conditions. We did not examine differences in how operators performed the tasks, but rather focused on differences in required operating forces and estimated biomechanical loads across various exposure conditions for a typical operator. Findings show that the floor-based lifts exceeded recommended exposure limits for pushing and pulling for many of the floor/weight conditions and that the overhead-mounted lifts did not. As expected, forces and spinal loads were greater for nonlinoleum floors. Based on these findings, it is suggested that overhead-mounted devices be used whenever possible, particularly in instances where carpeted floors would be encountered. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Body Weight Ergonomics Health Personnel Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Floor-based Lifts Biomechanics Body-weight Exposure-limits Force Manual-lifting Medical-personnel Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Operating Hand Forces Overhead Lifts Risk-factors Tools Weight-factors

  More +
• ISSN:
  2162-1462
• 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:
  119-133
• Volume:
  2
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043202
• Citation:
  Am J Safe Patient Handl Mov 2012 Dec; 2(4):119-133
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Wholesale and Retail Trade
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Safe Patient Handling & Movement
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8741807861eaaf94498bd131c9d042127b96f19c58b17cdae4323fc798cea7db278c6d894c390fc1643d465393d01e37eb9a6e32ad3d4ad45de481afff7785a8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195171/cdc_195171_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.89 MB ]