A Study for Measurements of Grip Strength and Coefficient of Friction at the Interface Between the Hand and Drywall

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chiou S ; Dong, Ren G. ; Kau T ; Pan C ; Warren C ; Welcome, Daniel E.
• Description:
  The objective of this study is to measure the grip strength used in lifting drywall, and to measure the coefficient of friction (COF) at the interface between hand skin and a gypsum drywall sheet. An additional objective of this study is to assess lifting forces applied during glove use. Ten healthy male construction workers (mean age = 42 +/- 3.12 years) who had at least 6 months experience in handling drywall sheets were recruited from the area surrounding Morgantown, West Virginia. The human subjects needed to complete the maximum grip strength (TekScan, 5101) and coefficient of friction (friction-measurement meter) tests. The maximum grip strength measures were collected repetitively for eight experimental conditions including treatment combinations of hand (left, right), drywall thickness (1/2", 3/4"), and glove wearing (bare or gloved hand). For the COF test, normal force and COF were collected repetitively for four experimental conditions including treatment combinations of hand (left, right) and glove wearing (bare or gloved hand). Glove wearing (F = 6.87, p = 0.0278) and drywall thickness (F = 17.67, p = 0.0023) both showed a significant impact on grip strength. For COF measurement at the palm, the associated F and p-values were F = 17.90, p = 0.0022 for glove wearing. Findings from the univariate analyses indicated that the finger COF measurements were 0.46 +/- 0.15 and 0.47 +/- 0.14 for the right and left hand, respectively; the palm COF measurements were 0.41 +/- 0.1 and 0.43 +/- 0.12 for the right and left hand, respectively. Findings from the univariate analyses also showed that wearing PVC-dot gloves increased friction and lifting capacity. The maximum grip/lifting strength findings will further be used to compare with the required lifting force results for this lifting method with the previous study data. Analysis of this comparative data will be used to recommend task duration and rest periods. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Construction Materials Demography Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Sex Characteristics
• Keywords:
  Construction-materials Construction-workers Demographic-characteristics Gloves Hand-injuries Hand-protection Manual-lifting Manual-materials-handling Materials-handling Sex-factors
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research ; HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  31
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024783
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 8-13, 2004, Atlanta, Georgia. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2004 May; :31
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Traumatic Injuries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 8-13, 2004, Atlanta, Georgia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d05e4fb26ca22b5bf5d086074946f92e388cd3e5cf83610be96ba3f24d2c8ca63fc49fbae1b0d403ab057144f38598548197236223562f03c1fc439480a1d988
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196408/cdc_196408_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.66 MB ]