Chapter Five

Ergonomics of Manual Materials Handling

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 Manual handling includes any tasks which require a person to
lift, lower, push, pull, hold or carry any object, animal or person.

Push
Lift/Lower

Carry

Hold Pull
 MMH is seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with the hand
or hands.

The subject of MMH concentrates on the

identification and control of injury-causing
conditions associated with MMH, and
minimizing the health hazards by
employing administrative controls (e.g.
proper personnel selection, training in good
material handling techniques, and worker
rotations) and engineering controls (e.g.
job redesign, mechanical assists).
• MMH places strains on both the cardiovascular system
and the musculoskeletal system.

• The strain on the cardiovascular system is revealed by

increased oxygen consumption and heart rate to deliver
more oxygen and chemical energy to the involved
muscles.

• Musculoskeletal strain, which can be injurious, is of a

greater concern.
 Activities involved in MMH

1- Lifting / Lowering
 Lifting is to rise from a lower to a
higher level. The range of a lift
can be from the ground to as high
as you can reach your hands.
Lowering is the opposite activity
from lifting.
 Lifting puts stress on two main
body systems. One is the
musculoskeletal system and the
other is the cardiovascular
system.
 Ergonomics of manual lifting

• Restrict the number of tasks which require

displacing loads manually
• Create optimum circumstances for lifting

• Make the workplace suitable for lifting

activities
• Loads should be fitted with handgrips

• Use correct lifting techniques

• Heavy lifting should be done by several people

• Use lifting accessories

• Hold the load as close to the body as possible

Poor lifting technique Good lifting technique
Correct lifting techniques
 2- Ergonomics of pushing / pulling

• A correct pulling and pushing posture is one which uses

the body’s own weight.
• When pushing, the body should be bent forwards and
when pulling, it should lean backwards.
• The friction between the floor and the shoes must be
sufficiently large
• In pulling and in pushing, the horizontal distance
between the rearmost ankle and the hands must be at
least 120 cm.
Push

Pull
 3- Ergonomics of carrying
 Employee Guidelines for Safer Carrying
 Keep loads close to your body.
 Make sure you have a clear view of the path.
 Alternate hands.
 Whenever appropriate, use two hands to carry
containers.
 Take rest breaks.
Carry
 Reduce weight of load
 Use light weight containers
 Divide loads in smaller parts
 4- Ergonomics of Twisting
• As applied to MMH is the act of
moving the upper body to one
side or the other while the
lower body remains in a
relatively fixed position.
 Rapid, jerky, and/or twisting
motions, as depicted here,
should be avoided.
 Ergonomics manual handling checklist

 It is possible to develop a manual

handling checklist to identify the risk
of manual handling injuries.
 This identification process emphasizes
lifting/lowering activities by assessing
six factors:
• weight;
• posture and layout;
• frequency and duration;
• object characteristics;
• individuals;
• environment.
 Risk factors of MMH
 Manual material handling tasks may expose workers to physical risk
factors. If these tasks are performed repeatedly or over long periods of
time, they can lead to fatigue and injury. The main risk factors, or
conditions, associated with the development of injuries in manual
material handling tasks include:
1- Awkward postures (e.g. bending, twisting)
2- Repetitive motions (e.g. frequent reaching, lifting, carrying)
3- Forceful exertions (e.g. carrying or lifting heavy loads)
4- Pressure points (e.g. grasping [or contact from] loads, leaning against parts
or surfaces that are hard or have sharp edges)
5- Static postures (e.g., maintaining fixed positions for a long time)
 Repeated or continual exposure to one or more of these factors
initially may lead to fatigue and discomfort.

 Over time, injury to the back, shoulders, hands, wrists, or other

parts of the body may occur.

 Injuries may include damage to muscles, tendons, ligaments,

nerves, and blood vessels.
 Manual lifting task Evaluation
 MMH evaluations are conducted in a variety of ways.

 Biomechanical, physiological, and psychophysical approaches

have been used for many years to evaluate the MMH stresses
imposed on workers.

 However, since the National Institute for Occupational Safety and

Health (NIOSH) published its Work Practices Guide for Manual
Lifting (NIOSH, 1981)and its revision (Waters et al., 1994), those
two documents have been widely used to assess MMH activities.
 NIOSH original lifting model
 The WPG defines a manual lifting task as the act of manually
grasping and raising an object of a definable size without mechanical
aids. The WPG was based on the thought that "an overexertion
injury is the result of job demands that exceed a worker's capacity.
 This thought, which has also been used as the basis of the revised
lifting equation, can be expressed by a strain index, as shown in the
following equation:
Strain index = Job demands
Worker capacity
 Therefore, any lifting situation in which this strain index exceeds
1.0 would present a potential for overexertion injury.
 The 1981 WPG presented a mathematical equation for
determination of an action limit (AL) for manual lifting tasks. In its
guide, NIOSH divided lifting tasks into three classes (FIG:B below):
1- Acceptable (below the AL);
2- Unacceptable for some individuals (between the AL and
maximum permissible limit, or MPL), with administrative controls
recommended;
3- Unacceptable for most individuals (above the MPL), with
engineering controls recommended to redesign the work to
eliminate or reduce the MMH hazard.
FIG B : Illustration of the three classes of lifting tasks based on object
weight and horizontal distance of the object.
 1- Action limit

Because of the large variability in capacity of individuals, loads
falling between the AL and MPL may be lifted if administrative
controls (e.g., personnel selection and training) are applied since:


Musculoskeletal injury and severity rates increase moderately when
workers perform a lifting task up to the AL (epidemiologic criterion).
A 350-kg (3430-N or 770-lb) biomechanical compression force on the
L5/S1 intervertebral disk imposed by the conditions described by the AL
can be tolerated by most young, healthy workers (biomechanical
criterion) .
 Metabolic rates would exceed 3.5 kcal . min-1 for most individuals
performing a lifting task above the AL (physiologic criterion).
Lifting loads up to the AL are acceptable to over 99% of male and over
75% of female populations with a nominal risk of back injury (psychologic
criterion).
 1- Maximum Permissible limit
Lifting loads beyond the MPL should not be permitted, but engineering
controls must be applied to lower the load within the acceptable range. This
limit has been set based on four criteria (epidemiologic, biomechanics,
physiologic, and psychologic) as summarized below:
 Musculoskeletal injury and severity rates increase significantly when a lifting
task is performed above the MPL.
 Biomechanical compression forces on the L5/S1 intervertebral disk above 650
kg (6370 N or 1430 lb) are not tolerable by most people.
 Metabolic rates would exceed 5.0 kcal . min-1 for most individuals performing
a lifting task above the MPL.
 Only about 25% of male and fewer than 1% of female workers would find a
lifting task above the MPL acceptable.
The original NIOSH equations for AL and MPL are as follows:

AL (kg) = 40 x (15) x (1-0.004 V-75) x ( 0.7 x 7.5) x (1- F ) (metric units)

H D Fmax
MPL = 3 x AL
where:
H = horizontal location of lift centerline;
V = vertical location of the hands at origin of lift;
D = vertical travel distance from origin to destination of lift;
F = frequency of lifting, average number of lifts per minute;
Fmax = maximum frequency of lifting which can be sustained (from
Table below);
AL = action limit; MPL = maximum permissible limit = 3 X AL.
FIG A: Illustration of the
independent variables in
the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) lifting
model.

Table 1: Maximum lift per minute (Fmax)

 Lifting task variables
The primary lifting task variables that affect the AL and MPL, as
presented in the equation above and shown in Figure above, are as
follows:
 Horizontal location (H) of the hands at origin of lift, measured from
the midpoint between ankles (in centimeters or inches). H must be
between 15 and 80 cm (6-32 in). The minimum 15 cm (6 in) is due to
body interference .
 Vertical location (V) of the hands at origin of lift, measured from
floor level (in centimeters or inches). V must be between 0 and 175 cm
(0 and 70 in), which is the range of vertical reach for most individuals.
 Vertical travel distance (D) from origin to destination of lift (in
centimeters or inches). “D” must be between 25 cm (10 in) and (200-
V) cm [(80 - V) in]. If the travel distance is less than 25 cm (10 in),
then D= 25 cm (10 in) must be used.
 Frequency of lifting (F), average number of lifts per minute. F must
be between 0.2 (one lift every 5 min) and F max. If the frequency of lift
is less than once per 5 min, then set F = 0.

 Maximum frequency of lifting (Fmax) which is determined based on

the duration or period of the task during the work-shift. Lifting is
assumed to be occasional (less than 1 h) or continuous (more than 1
h, up to 8 h). Table 1 above provides the Fmax values.
 In calculating the four modifying factors (horizontal
factor, vertical factor, distance factor, and frequency
factor), it should be noted that each factor has to be less
than or equal to 1.
 If a factor exceeds 1 (or falls its lower bound), an error
has been made. A common error is to use travel distances
of less than 25 cm (10 in). If the actual travel distance is
10 cm, the distance factor could be improperly calculated
as D = 0.7 + 7.5/10, or D = 1.45
 How to prevent manual handling injuries
 Commitment and involvement of the entire workplace, from top
management to line workers, are essential elements of a successful
injury prevention program. The best approach to prevent manual
handling injuries involves the following components.
 Education: It is a key step in preventing injury. The worker should
have a basic understanding of ergonomics principles and handling
techniques, and should be able to recognize the risk factors and
injury symptoms. Workers should make sure that injury symptoms,
risk factors, near misses, hazards, incidents, accidents, etc. are
reported to their supervisors.
Management should have knowledge to assume a leadership role.
This includes:
• visible involvement;
• policy that places health and safety at the same level of
importance as production;
• assigning responsibility;
• providing authority and resources to all responsible parties, and;
• ensuring that everyone is accountable for their responsibilities.
 Design: The design of the job itself (work/rest schedules, job
rotation), the object being handled and the workstation
(dimensions/layout) have a direct impact on the risk of injury. In
order to prevent injuries, you have to consider modifying all of
these aspects.
The following four control measures for hazards of MMH shall
be considered for every organization.