Last data update: May 06, 2024. (Total: 46732 publications since 2009)
Records 1-10 (of 10 Records) |
Query Trace: Hudock S[original query] |
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Evaluation of a workplace exercise program for control of shoulder disorders in overhead assembly work
Lowe BD , Shaw PB , Wilson SR , Whitaker JR , Witherspoon GJ , Hudock SD , Barrero M , Ray TK , Wurzelbacher SJ . J Occup Environ Med 2017 59 (6) 563-570 OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess effects of exercise on shoulder musculoskeletal symptoms among employees with overhead assembly work exposures. METHODS: A voluntary workplace shoulder exercise program was offered to employees in two automotive assembly departments, while two similar departments served as controls. N = 76 total workers participated. Shoulder Rating Questionnaire (SRQ) and Discomfort of the Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH) symptoms were queried monthly for 7 baseline months, followed by 6 months that included exercise. RESULTS: SRQ scores were higher for exercisers than among controls in the 6 exercising months, but not in the baseline months. Although the group x month interaction was significant (P < 0.05), the temporal trend was inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise may have temporarily lessened decline in SRQ. It is not clear whether shorter term differences were clinically meaningful or predictive of longer term disability prevention. |
Preface to the special section on the impact of Thomas Waters on the field of ergonomics
Davis KG , Hudock SD . Hum Factors 2016 58 (5) 665-6 Thomas R. Waters had a distinguished career in the field of occupational ergonomics for 24 years while working at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Although his work focused on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) across many industries, including manufacturing, retail trade, warehousing, agriculture, and health care, he is most known for leading the development and validation of the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation (RNLE) starting in 1993. The RNLE has become the most widely used ergonomic assessment tool in the world. Researchers across the world are now revising and expanding this equation to ensure wide applicability of the RNLE. Waters published 27 articles on the RNLE, with one of the last articles being awarded the 2000 Alice Hamilton Award for Excellence in the Human Studies (Waters et al., 1999) and another expanding the RNLE to be used by pregnant workers lifting at work (MacDonald et al., 2013). The reach of this tool has been phenomenal, with almost 65,000 downloads of the RNLE documentation from the NIOSH Web page between 2007 and 2012, more than 72,000 page views from 2009 to 2012, and more than 25,000 copies of the RNLE distributed by NIOSH. More than 130 articles have been published that employ the RNLE as an assessment tool, providing one indication of the impact that this tool has had on the field. |
Serious injury and fatality investigations involving pneumatic nail guns, 1985-2012
Lowe BD , Albers JT , Hudock SD , Krieg EF . Am J Ind Med 2016 59 (2) 164-74 BACKGROUND: This article examines serious and fatal pneumatic nail gun (PNG) injury investigations for workplace, tool design, and human factors relevant to causation and resulting OS&H authorities' responses in terms of citations and penalties. METHODS: The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) database of Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries (F&CIS) were reviewed (1985-2012) to identify n = 258 PNG accidents. RESULTS: 79.8% of investigations, and 100% of fatalities, occurred in the construction industry. Between 53-71% of injuries appear to have been preventable had a safer sequential trigger tool been used. Citations and monetary penalties were related to injury severity, body part injured, disabling of safety devices, and insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE). CONCLUSIONS: Differences may exist between construction and other industries in investigators interpretations of PNG injury causation and resulting citations/penalties. Violations of PPE standards were penalized most severely, yet the preventive effect of PPE would likely have been less than that of a safer sequential trigger. |
Revisiting Pneumatic Nail Gun Trigger Recommendations
Albers J , Lowe BD , Lipscomb H , Hudock SD , Dement J , Evanoff B , Fullen M , Gillen M , Kaskutas V , Nolan J , Patterson D , Platner J , Pompeii L , Schoenfisch A . Prof Saf 2015 60 (3) 30-33 Pneumatic framing nail gun use is ubiquitous throughout the modern homebuilding industry. This tool has a safety device at the end of the gun muzzle that must be depressed before the fastener can be discharged. Generally, these devices have two types of trigger systems that then define how the nail gun fires in response to a trigger press: 1. The sequential actuation trigger requires that each nail can only be discharged when the safety tip is first depressed and, while held depressed, the trigger is squeezed. 2. The contact actuation trigger allows the operator to first squeeze the trigger and, while holding the trigger squeezed, repeatedly bump the safety tip on the workpiece to shoot multiple nails. In the authors' view, however, an unintended consequence of the recommendations published in (Baggs, et al, 1999) and (2001) has been the creation of the appearance of competing risks with nail gun trigger systems. |
Unstable sitting in the workplace - are there physical activity benefits?
Lowe BD , Swanson NG , Hudock SD , Lotz WG . Am J Health Promot 2015 29 (4) 207-9 The increasingly popular practice of using a stability ball (exercise/fitness ball) as a sitting surface runs counter to conventional human factors/ergonomics guidelines for seated workspace design. Employees sitting on stability balls in an office environment present safety risks that might be justifiable if the practice has a definitive benefit to the promotion of health. However, the published studies and best evidence to date call into question even the theoretical basis for this practice and do not suggest significant health benefits. First, biomechanical studies do not confirm the intended trunk muscle activation. Second, energy expenditure studies show a small (if any) increase in metabolic demand that is unlikely to be effective in combating sedentary work risk factors. Until studies demonstrate more conclusive benefits, the practice of stability ball sitting should be viewed skeptically as a general workplace recommendation in the interest of health or wellness. |
A biomechanical assessment of hand/arm force with pneumatic nail gun actuation systems
Lowe Brian D , Albers James , Hudock Stephen D . Int J Ind Ergon 2014 44 (5) 715-722 A biomechanical model is presented to estimate user hand/arm force exertion with two pneumatic nail gun trigger systems. The sequential actuation trigger (SAT) is safer than the contact actuation trigger (CAT) but increases the user's exertion of force because the trigger must be actuated after the safety tip is held pressed against the workpiece. Time integrated hand force was calculated for a single user based on direct measurement of nail gun tip force against the workpiece (tip contact) and from estimated force to support the tool weight during transfer between nails and during idle holding. The model shows that hand/arm force increases when nailing with the SAT (relative to CAT) and with a vertically-oriented workpiece (relative to horizontal). Expressed per nail fired, the user exerted 0.13Ns (horizontal orientation) and 2.88Ns (vertical orientation) integrated hand force during tip contact with CAT compared to 26.15Ns (horizontal) and 46.08Ns (vertical) with SAT. Depending upon idle holding duration, integrated hand force during tip contact was estimated to have been 1-3% of 48-132Ns total hand force with CAT and 21-44% of 83-167Ns total hand force with SAT (average of horizontal and vertical orientations). Based on standard time allowances from work measurement systems it is proposed that efficient application of hand force during tip contact with SAT can reduce this contribution to 6-15% of 55-139Ns total hand force. The model is useful for considering differences in hand/arm force exertion between the SAT and CAT systems. RELEVANCE TO INDUSTRY: This paper presents a model of hand/arm force associated with two types of pneumatic nail gun actuation (trigger) systems. The model clarifies differences in user force exertion with the sequential actuation and contact actuation triggers to inform nail gun trigger selection decisions. |
Provisional recommended weight limits for manual lifting during pregnancy
Waters TR , MacDonald Leslie A , Hudock Stephen D , Goddard Donald E . Hum Factors 2014 56 (1) 203-214 OBJECTIVE: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Revised Lifting Equation (RNLE) was adapted to derive recommended weight limits (RWLs) for pregnant workers and to develop corresponding guidelines for clinicians. BACKGROUND: In the past three decades there has been a large increase in the number of women employed outside the home and remaining in the workforce during pregnancy. Practical authoritative guidelines based on accumulated evidence are needed to inform allowable work activity levels for healthy pregnant workers. METHOD: Empirically based lifting criteria established by NIOSH to reduce the risk of overexertion injuries in the general U.S. working population were evaluated for application to pregnant workers. Our evaluation included an extensive review of the literature linking occupational lifting to maternal and fetal health. Decision logic and supporting literature are presented, along with computational details. Results: Provisional RWLs for pregnant workers were derived from the RNLE, along with guidelines for clinicians. The guidelines advise against pregnant workers lifting below midshin and overhead. CONCLUSION: Based on our review of the available evidence, we present lifting thresholds that most pregnant workers with uncomplicated pregnancies should be able to perform without increased risk of adverse maternal and fetal health consequences. Except for restrictions involving lifting from the floor and overhead, the provisional guidelines presented are compatible with NIOSH lifting recommendations adopted in the early 1990s for the general working population. APPLICATION: Implementation of these provisional guidelines could protect millions of female workers in the workplace from fetal and maternal lifting-related health problems. |
Finger tendon travel associated with sequential trigger nail gun use
Lowe B , Albers J , Hudock S , Krieg E . IIE Trans Occup 2013 1 (2) 109-118 OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONS: This article reports a method for assessing finger tendon motion associated with the use of a sequential actuation trigger pneumatic nail gun. The two-stage actuation process of the sequential actuation trigger reduces risk of nail puncture injury from unintended nail discharge (relative to the higher risk of the contact actuation trigger). However, widespread adoption of the sequential actuation trigger nail gun throughout the construction industry has been hindered by beliefs about productivity and musculoskeletal concerns about the repetitive trigger actuation and finger motion for each nail fired. Though existing guidelines for finger tendon travel exposure are not well established, predictions derived with the present method combined with productivity standards suggest insufficient evidence to contradict the safety-based recommendation to adopt the sequential actuation trigger trigger. BACKGROUND: Pneumatic nail guns used in wood framing are equipped with one of two triggering mechanisms. Sequential actuation triggers have been shown to be a safer alternative to contact actuation triggers because they reduce traumatic injury risk. However, the sequential actuation trigger must be depressed for each individual nail fired as opposed to the contact actuation trigger, which allows the trigger to be held depressed as nails are fired repeatedly by bumping the safety tip against the workpiece. As such, concerns have been raised about risks for cumulative trauma injury, and reduced productivity, due to repetitive finger motion with the sequential actuation trigger. PURPOSE: This study developed a method to predict cumulative finger flexor tendon travel associated with the sequential actuation trigger nail gun from finger joint kinematics measured in the trigger actuation and productivity standards for wood-frame construction tasks. METHODS: Finger motions were measured from six users wearing an instrumented electrogoniometer glove in a simulation of two common framing tasks: wall building and flat nailing of material. Flexor tendon travel was calculated from the ensemble average kinematics for an individual nail fired. RESULTS: Finger flexor tendon travel was attributable mostly to proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joint motion. Tendon travel per nail fired appeared to be slightly greater for a wall-building task than a flat nailing task. The present study data, in combination with construction industry productivity standards, suggest that a high-production workday would be associated with less than 60 m/day cumulative tendon travel per worker (based on 1700 trigger presses/day). CONCLUSION AND APPLICATIONS: These results suggest that exposure to finger tendon travel from sequential actuation trigger nail gun use may be below levels that have been previously associated with high musculoskeletal disorder risk. |
Clinical guidelines for occupational lifting in pregnancy: evidence summary and provisional recommendations
MacDonald LA , Waters TR , Napolitano PG , Goddard DE , Ryan MA , Nielsen P , Hudock SD . Am J Obstet Gynecol 2013 209 (2) 80-8 Empirically-based lifting criteria established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to reduce risk of overexertion injuries in the general U.S. working population were evaluated for application to pregnant workers. This report proposes criteria to guide decisions by medical providers about permissible weights for lifting tasks performed at work over the course of an uncomplicated pregnancy. Our evaluation included an extensive review of the literature linking occupational lifting to maternal and fetal health. Although it has been 29 years since the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Council on Scientific Affairs published its report on the Effects of Pregnancy on Work Performance, these guidelines continue to influence clinical decisions and workplace policies. Provisional clinical guidelines derived from the NIOSH lifting criteria are presented that account for recent evidence for maternal and fetal health, and aim to improve the standard of care for pregnant workers. |
Addressing the need for research on bariatric patient handling
Galinsky T , Hudock S , Streit J . Rehabil Nurs 2010 35 (6) 242-247 During the past 3 decades numerous studies have documented the high prevalence of patient handling-related musculoskeletal injuries among healthcare workers and evaluated ergonomic interventions using mechanized equipment for lifting and moving patients. A great deal of research-based evidence now demonstrates the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions to reduce injury risk among healthcare workers who handle patients of average weights and sizes. In contrast, there is a lack of evidence-based research that evaluates ergonomic interventions for handling bariatric patients, whose extreme weights and sizes necessitate specialized handling equipment. The obesity epidemic, along with special medical and therapeutic concerns regarding bariatric patients, exacerbates healthcare workers' patient handling demands. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is conducting a new study to evaluate bariatric patient handling hazards and interventions and identify evidence-based best practices for handling this population. |
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- Page last updated:May 06, 2024
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