Revised NIOSH lifting equation의 현장 적용

A local manufacturing companyin which low back pain(LBP) complaints were frequently reported was selected, and regularly perfomed lifting tasks were investigated using questionnaires and the 1991 NIOSH lifting guide. Among several processes of manufacture in the company, three processes-forming, heating and packing-were studied, where most of tasks were perfomed through manual materials handling (MMH). Questionnaire surveys showed that anthropometric data such as stature, weight and someatotype did not affect and weight of load influenced significantly the incidence of LBP, and workers who expwrienced LBP was older than the inexperienced. In addition, safety education conducted at the company was found to be ineffective in preventing LBP injuries. Lifting indexes(LI) was ranged from 0.86 to 17.0 with an average of 4.49, which revealed that tasks performing in the selected factory were in danger of LBP, and should be ertonomically redesigned. The critical factor reducing LI was found to be the horizontal component in all three processes, and most of weight of load was heavier than load constant(23kg) of the 1991 NIOSH lifting equation in heating process and packing.