TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of a redesigned two-wheeled container for refuse collecting on mechanical loading of low and back and shoulders
AU - Kuijer, P. Paul F.M.
AU - Hoozemans, Marco J.M.
AU - Kingma, Idsart
AU - Van Dieëm, Jaap H.
AU - De Vries, Wiebe H.K.
AU - Veeger, Dirk Jan H.E.J.
AU - Van Der Beek, Allard J.
AU - Visser, Bart
AU - Frings-Dresen, Monique H.W.
AU - van Dieen, J.H.
AU - de Vries, W.K.H.
N1 - Funding Information: The Association for Waste and Cleansing Management (NVRD) and the Association of Dutch Waste Management Companies (VNA) financially supported this project. This study could not have succeeded without the contribution of the employees and management of the refuse collecting companies of Alkmaar, Bussum, Geldermalsen and Zaandam. The authors thank Jorrit Jansen for his support in data acquisition and processing, and Tom Kalkman for helping to build the redesigned two-wheeled container.
PY - 2003/5/15
Y1 - 2003/5/15
N2 - The objective of this study was to compare the mechanical and perceived workload when working with a redesigned two-wheeled container and working with a standard two-wheeled container for refuse collecting. The three changes in the design of the container were a displacement of the position of the centre of mass in the direction of the axis of the wheels, a slight increase in the height of the handle and a slight increase in the horizontal distance between the handle and the wheel-axis, and an increase in the diameter of the wheels. The volume of the container remained 0.240 m3. Nine refuse collectors performed some of their most frequent daily activities with both types of containers in the laboratory. Kinematics and exerted hand forces were assessed as input for detailed 3D biomechanical models of the low back and shoulder to estimate net moments at the low back and shoulders, compressive forces at the low back and contact forces at the glenohumeral joint. Also, the refuse collectors rated the ease of handling the two-wheeled containers on a five point scale. The use of the redesigned container resulted in a decrease of the exerted hand forces of 27%, decreases in the net moments at the low back and shoulders of 8% and 20%, respectively, and a decrease of 32% of the contact force at the glenohumeral joint when compared to the standard container. However, pulling an empty redesigned container on to the pavement resulted in an increase of the shoulder moment of more than 100%. No differences between container types were found for the compressive forces at the low back. Pushing and pulling with the redesigned container was rated as easier than pushing and pulling with the standard container. No differences in subjective ratings were found for the tasks of turning the container or pulling an empty container onto the pavement. It is concluded that, provided that empty containers are placed back onto the pavement as infrequently as possible, the introduction of the redesigned container could result in a reduction of the low back and shoulder load for refuse collectors.
AB - The objective of this study was to compare the mechanical and perceived workload when working with a redesigned two-wheeled container and working with a standard two-wheeled container for refuse collecting. The three changes in the design of the container were a displacement of the position of the centre of mass in the direction of the axis of the wheels, a slight increase in the height of the handle and a slight increase in the horizontal distance between the handle and the wheel-axis, and an increase in the diameter of the wheels. The volume of the container remained 0.240 m3. Nine refuse collectors performed some of their most frequent daily activities with both types of containers in the laboratory. Kinematics and exerted hand forces were assessed as input for detailed 3D biomechanical models of the low back and shoulder to estimate net moments at the low back and shoulders, compressive forces at the low back and contact forces at the glenohumeral joint. Also, the refuse collectors rated the ease of handling the two-wheeled containers on a five point scale. The use of the redesigned container resulted in a decrease of the exerted hand forces of 27%, decreases in the net moments at the low back and shoulders of 8% and 20%, respectively, and a decrease of 32% of the contact force at the glenohumeral joint when compared to the standard container. However, pulling an empty redesigned container on to the pavement resulted in an increase of the shoulder moment of more than 100%. No differences between container types were found for the compressive forces at the low back. Pushing and pulling with the redesigned container was rated as easier than pushing and pulling with the standard container. No differences in subjective ratings were found for the tasks of turning the container or pulling an empty container onto the pavement. It is concluded that, provided that empty containers are placed back onto the pavement as infrequently as possible, the introduction of the redesigned container could result in a reduction of the low back and shoulder load for refuse collectors.
KW - Intervention
KW - Physical workload
KW - Pulling
KW - Pushing
KW - Refuse collecting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038180960&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/0014013031000065619
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/0014013031000065619
M3 - Article
C2 - 12745687
SN - 0014-0139
VL - 46
SP - 543
EP - 560
JO - Ergonomics
JF - Ergonomics
IS - 6
ER -