| Lifting and manual material handling account for a large proportion of back injuries. To date, the majority of studies have focused on the lifting of rectangular shaped objects or researchers have studied irregular shaped objects such as shopping bags or sacs.{09}However, there have been no studies focusing on the lifting of rods or long awkward heavy objects. Most often studied are sagittally symmetric lifting and lowering of boxes with handles, even though this type of lifting is rare in the industrial setting. In-The-Hole (ITH) drilling is a heavy repetitive mining task, which has been identified as having a relatively high incidence and severity rate of ergonomic-related injuries requiring further ergonomic study.; The purpose of the study was to examine how the load (EMG, moment, and vertical Force) experienced by ITH operators changed while lifting drilling rods (1.61 cm long, 13 cm diameter, 35 kg). Four different initial feet positions (Freestyle, 0°, 45°, 90°) and two rod heights (20cm rack vs. ground) were evaluated to determine possible risks and potential lifting recommendations to reduce the risk of low back injury. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
