Affiliations: [a] Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA
| [b] Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| [c] Biomedical Engineering Department, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Michael J. Jorgensen, Industrial, Systems and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount St., Wichita, KS, USA, 67260-0035. E-mail: michael.jorgensen@wichita.edu; ORCID: 0000-0003-2441-4825.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for Lifting is a manual material handling (MMH) assessment method to identify weight limits that nearly all workers may be exposed to without developing work-related low back disorders (LBD). However, this assessment method only applies to lifting with the torso within 30° asymmetry of the sagittal plane. OBJECTIVE:Estimate TLV weight limits while lifting with torso asymmetry greater than 30° beyond the sagittal plane. METHODS:Lifting tasks were performed from various horizontal and vertical locations, at torso asymmetry angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°, using ACGIH identified TLVs. Validated MMH assessment methods (NIOSH Lifting Equation, Ohio State University LBD Risk Model) were utilized to estimate TLVs at torso asymmetries greater than 30°. RESULTS:The current ACGIH TLVs resulted in low- to moderate-risk risk levels for torso asymmetries from 0° to 30°, and the risk incrementally increased as torso asymmetry increased to 90°. With the intention to keep the risk levels to that found at 30° torso asymmetry, lower TLV weight limits in the vertical and horizontal zones investigated were estimated for torso asymmetries from 45° to 90°. The resulting adjusted TLVs were consistent with weight limits identified for similar lifting conditions from other assessment methods that account for torso asymmetry. CONCLUSIONS:This research found current ACGIH-defined TLVs possess less than high-risk for LBD, and provided guidance to practitioners for reduced TLVs when torso asymmetry is greater than 30° from the sagittal plane.
Keywords: ACGIH TLV for lifting, manual materials handling, assessment method, torso asymmetry, NIOSH lifting equation, LBD risk model
