The Effects of Scaling Height and Scaling Bar Design on Applied Forces and Bilateral Muscle Activity of the Back and Shoulders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gallagher S ; Porter W ; Reinholtz C ; Torma-Krajewski, Janet
• Description:
  Hand scaling is a physically demanding job and is responsible for numerous overexertion injuries in mining. This experiment studied rib scaling from an elevated bucket to examine force generation capabilities and electromyographic responses to a prying subtask. Subjects exerted force using two bars (steel and fiberglass) at five target heights. Work height significantly affected peak prying force during scaling activities with highest force capacity at the lowest level (p = 0.0188). Bar type did not affect force generation (p = 0.7843): However, use of the fiberglass bar required significantly more muscle activity to achieve the same force (p < 0.05). It was concluded that miners should scale points on the rock face that are below their knees, and reposition the bucket as often as necessary to do so. Additional research is needed to fully understand the impact of bar type on the physical demands of an entire scaling task. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Computers Mining Occupational Health Safety Software
• Keywords:
  Back-injuries Biomechanics Ergonomics Injury-prevention Mining-industry Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Underground-mining
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031497
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting, October 16-20, 2006, San Francisco, California. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2006 Oct; 50(13):1397-1400
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Intervention Effectiveness Research
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting, October 16-20, 2006, San Francisco, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7151af6cb3c65a4e889384ff9666a979577b35cf87548d355f954686173fd4360acdffcfd2ef2f532c4a7938c8ca0f760c3c53d5b0d44bf25b13c004ffe9066d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/226708/cdc_226708_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 160.02 KB ]