Improving the Risk Assessment Capability of the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation by Incorporating Personal Characteristics

Details

• Personal Author:
  Barim MS ; Capanoglu MF ; Davis GA ; Drinkaus P ; Gallagher S ; Schall MC Jr. ; Sesek RF
• Description:
  The impact of manual material handling such as lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and awkward postures have been studied, and models using these external demands to assess risk of injury have been developed and employed by safety and health professionals. However, ergonomic models incorporating personal characteristics into a comprehensive model are lacking. This study explores the utility of adding personal characteristics such as the estimated L5/S1 Intervertebral Disc (IVD) cross-sectional area, age, gender and Body Mass Index to the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation (RNLE) with the goal to improve risk assessment. A dataset with known RNLE Cumulative Lifting Indices (CLIs) and related health outcomes was used to evaluate the impact of personal characteristics on RNLE performance. The dataset included 29 cases and 101 controls selected from a cohort of 1022 subjects performing 667 jobs. RNLE risk assessment was improved by incorporation of personal characteristics. Adding gender and intervertebral disc size multipliers to the RNLE raised the odds ratio for a CLI of 3.0 from 6.71 (CI: 2.2 - 20.9) to 24.75 (CI: 2.8 - 215.4). Similarly, performance was either unchanged or improved when some existing multipliers were removed. The most promising RNLE change involved incorporation of a multiplier based on the estimated IVD cross-sectional area (CSA). Results are promising, but confidence intervals are broad and additional, prospective research is warranted to validate findings. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Age Factors
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Ergonomics
  • Musculoskeletal Diseases
  • Musculoskeletal System
  • Occupational Health
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors
  • Safety
  • Sex Characteristics
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Risk assessment
  • Manual materials handling
  • Posture
  • Models
  • Exposure levels
  • Risk factors
  • Injuries
  • Ergonomics
  • Age factors
  • Gender factors
  More +
• ISSN:
  0003-6870
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  67-73
• Volume:
  74
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055296
• Citation:
  Appl Ergon 2019 Jan; 74:67-73
• Contact Point Address:
  Menekse Salar Barim, NIOSH, 1090 Tusculum Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  mzs0053@auburn.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20270630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/217634/cdc_217634_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 577.29 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:505a5def9a823d8db6c83555283979c11d2c86a0fd6cc7d8334bc8b83da89bcde9a1c97b6d7e0df585b23a5148e800afd8ecf5ec067b60af0097c3409794b5c6