• Project number: F 2425
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Completed Project

Description:

Even in the contemporary world of work, a considerable number of employees carry out physical activities. It is particularly common for individuals to pull or push barrows because this type of material-handling equipment is used a great deal in the construction industry, agriculture, forestry, waste disposal, and the logistics sector.

The Key Indicator Method (KIM) Manual Pulling and Pushing of Loads, which was developed by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA), can be drawn on to assess the risks to health connected with the performance of such tasks. The aim of this project was to invastigate the short-term physical workloads and levels of strain experienced when pushing barrows, subject to the influence of various factors, and so compile a basis of data that would inform possible amendments to the KIM Manual Pulling and Pushing of Loads.

It was assumed that the short-term effects demonstrated in the experiment would be associated with the occurrence of manifest health impairments or diseases if the exposure continued over the long term. A number of factors that affected the workload - the ground surface, the route gradient, the load, and the load’s centre of mass - were varied systematically during the experiment. The severity of the workloads this imposed on the participants was measured by recording their postures, body movements, and levels of hand force and ground reaction force, while the strain they were under was measured by recording their muscular activity, heart rate, and subjective assessments of the strain they felt.

The results revealed clear linear rises in strain as the load and route gradient increased. The characteristics of the ground surface had only a minor influence on the degree of strain. Furthermore, it was possible to show that certain combinations of the conditions under which the tasks were performed rendered them impossible to complete (e.g. a gradient of 12° and a load of 225 kg). The results can now be used as a basis on which to discuss recommendations for the amendment of the Key Indicator Method.