Evaluation of Cab Design in Earthmoving Construction Equipment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jorgensen M ; Kittusamy N ; Viswanathan M
• Description:
  Awkward postures while operating construction equipment are due to improper cab design and work procedures. If not addressed, awkward posture of any body part can result in increased risk of fatigue, pain, or injury. The objective of this study was to use a checklist for evaluating cab design of construction equipment. This checklist has 31 questions that can be used to evaluate different characteristics of cab design. Eighteen pieces of earthmoving construction equipment were analyzed, including excavators, dozers, and dump trucks. An overall score for each cab was calculated by assigning equal weight to all questions. Results showed that the overall total cab design scores for all equipment ranged from 77 to 97%, the higher the score the better the design. Some design concerns were: (1) the seat did not swivel in the majority of the equipment (94%), (2) the controls in most of the dump trucks were not adjustable, (3) among the various dump trucks, some of the operators felt vibration through the floor, seat, and/or controls of the cab, and (4) noise was a common problem among the dozers. This checklist was useful in identifying several design characteristics of the cab that may need further improvement, which in turn can be useful in reducing awkward postures and improving the working environment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Fatigue Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-workers Injuries Posture Risk-analysis Risk-factors Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Work-environment Worker-health Workers

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Kansas ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 7 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SRL - Spokane Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  48
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030226
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 21-26, 2005, Anaheim, California. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2005 May; :48
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 21-26, 2005, Anaheim, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7d75fe6ac41811fadb0731fa97291aa4508c2f36f0f92bc8452cdc37548ce2275c93e2031b5e3975375160a8185b41ca8e1f3a4fbfead7d90d4cb1beebb2b992
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221182/cdc_221182_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.03 MB ]