Whole body vibration and posture as risk factors for low back pain among forklift truck drivers

Hoy, J.; Mubarak, N.; Nelson, S.; Sweerts de Landas, M.; Magnusson, M.; Okunribido, O.; Pope, M.

Affiliations

¹Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Liberty Safework Research Centre, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZP, UK

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the risks from whole-body vibration and posture demands for low back pain (LBP) among forklift truck (forklift) drivers. Using a validated questionnaire, information about health history was obtained over a period of two weeks in face-to-face interviews. The forklift drivers were observed in respect of their sitting posture, including frequency with which different positions were adopted (bending, leaning and twisting) and postural analyses were conducted using the OWAS and RULA techniques. Forklift vibrations at the seat (exposure) were measured in the three orthogonal axes (x-fore and aft, y-lateral and z-vertical) under actual working conditions according to the recommendations of ISO 2631-1. The results showed that LBP was more prevalent amongst forklift drivers than among non-drivers and driving postures in which the trunk is considerably twisted or bent forward associated with greatest risk. Furthermore, forklift drivers showed to be exposed to acceptable levels of vibration in the x- and y-directions (i.e., below the EU Physical Agents Directive on Vibration Exposure recommended action level—0.5 m/s²), but not in the z-direction. There were indications that whole-body vibration acts associatively with other factors (not independently) to precipitate LBP.

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2004.07.020

WoS: 000229400600021

ADS: 2005JSV...284..933H

History

Received: 2003-06-09

Revised: 2004-03-31

Accepted: 2004-07-21

Online: 2004-12-13

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Cited By (16)

Year	Entry
2012	Dickey JP, Nield DR, Delgado G, Eger T, Beauchemin S, Macpherson E. Proof of principle: assembly of an immersive virtual reality simulation for lift trucks. In: Proceedings of the 4th American Conference on Human Vibration. June 13-15, 2012; Farmington, CT.117-118.
2012	Harnish C, Eger T, Godwin A, Dickey JP. Examining the impact of non-neutral sitting postures on vibration transmissibility from seat to head. In: Proceedings of the 4th American Conference on Human Vibration. June 13-15, 2012; Farmington, CT.62-63.
2016	Dickey JP, Eger T, Higgs JM, Giommi K, Wegscheider P, Jun Y, Delgado G. Similarity in postures between forklift operations in a workplace and a virtual reality simulation. In: Proceedings of the 6th American Conference on Human Vibration. June 8-10, 2016; Milwaukee, WI.74-75.
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