Effect of Having A-Priori Knowledge of the Floor’s Contaminant Condition of the Biomechanics of Slips

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cham R ; Moyer B ; Redfern MS
• Description:
  Injuries and deaths are often the result of slips/falls. The perceived danger of slipping affects gait biomechanics. This paper investigated the effect of having a-priori knowledge of the floor's contaminant condition on the biomechanics of slips. Five healthy young male subjects donned a safety harness and walked across a walkway, while ground reaction forces and whole body motion were recorded bilaterally at 60 Hz. Slips on soapy floors occurred under 3 "knowledge" conditions: (1) unexpected slips, (2) slips when uncertain of the contaminant condition, and (3) slips when walking onto known contaminated floors. In (2) and (3), i.e. anticipation of slippery surfaces, subjects generated proactive reactions (reduced stance duration and foot angle at heel contact as well as greater hip flexion) compared to unexpected conditions in (1). Those reactions reduced slip potential but also minimized gait disturbances (reduced slip distance and sliding velocity of the heel) when a slip occurred. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Biomechanical Phenomena Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Biomechanics Floors Humans Injury-prevention Surface-properties
• ISBN:
  9780945289203
• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  46
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023288
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting, September 29 - October 4, 2002, Baltimore, Maryland, Bringing Fundamentals & New Opportunities. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2002 Sep; 46(Ind Erg):1181-1185
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment and Workforce: Special Populations
• Performing Organization:
  University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20020501
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting, September 29 - October 4, 2002, Baltimore, Maryland, Bringing Fundamentals & New Opportunities
• End Date:
  20050430
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3e8f2340e0c5ed0ce3e3df029aaf64a7d45778177fadd7460e07a3b082070ac443617b4f538c2ee727620520c2d5e1f23b6b72624ed8a17f6de718ba44fee034
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195809/cdc_195809_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 441.33 KB ]