Cargando…
Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway maintenance-of-way workers
Maintenance-of-way workers in North America who construct railroad tracks utilize specialized powered-hand tools, which lead to hand-transmitted vibration exposure. In this study, the maintenance-of-way workers were surveyed about neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, powered-hand tools and work practice...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan
2020
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7708743/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32863315 http://dx.doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2020-0133 |
_version_ | 1783617602367520768 |
---|---|
author | JOHANNING, Eckardt STILLO, Marco LANDSBERGIS, Paul |
author_facet | JOHANNING, Eckardt STILLO, Marco LANDSBERGIS, Paul |
author_sort | JOHANNING, Eckardt |
collection | PubMed |
description | Maintenance-of-way workers in North America who construct railroad tracks utilize specialized powered-hand tools, which lead to hand-transmitted vibration exposure. In this study, the maintenance-of-way workers were surveyed about neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, powered-hand tools and work practices. Information about vibration emission data of trade specific powered-hand tools for the North American and European Union markets was searched online to obtain respective user information of manufacturer and compared to non-commercial international data banks. The survey showed that maintenance-of-way workers frequently reported typical hand-transmitted vibration-related symptoms, and appear to be at a risk for neuro-musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremity. Of all of the powered-hand tools used by this trade, 88% of the selected tools exceeded a=5 m/s(2) and were above vibration magnitudes of common tools of other comparable industries. This may create a risk if these tools are used throughout an 8-h work day and management of vibration exposure may be needed. In the North-American market, limited or no vibration emission data is available from manufacturers or distributors. Vibration emission information for powered-hand tools, including vibration emission levels (in m/s(2)), uncertainty factor K, and the applied testing standard/norm may assist employers, users and occupational health providers to better assess, compare and manage risk. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7708743 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77087432020-12-15 Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway maintenance-of-way workers JOHANNING, Eckardt STILLO, Marco LANDSBERGIS, Paul Ind Health Original Article Maintenance-of-way workers in North America who construct railroad tracks utilize specialized powered-hand tools, which lead to hand-transmitted vibration exposure. In this study, the maintenance-of-way workers were surveyed about neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, powered-hand tools and work practices. Information about vibration emission data of trade specific powered-hand tools for the North American and European Union markets was searched online to obtain respective user information of manufacturer and compared to non-commercial international data banks. The survey showed that maintenance-of-way workers frequently reported typical hand-transmitted vibration-related symptoms, and appear to be at a risk for neuro-musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremity. Of all of the powered-hand tools used by this trade, 88% of the selected tools exceeded a=5 m/s(2) and were above vibration magnitudes of common tools of other comparable industries. This may create a risk if these tools are used throughout an 8-h work day and management of vibration exposure may be needed. In the North-American market, limited or no vibration emission data is available from manufacturers or distributors. Vibration emission information for powered-hand tools, including vibration emission levels (in m/s(2)), uncertainty factor K, and the applied testing standard/norm may assist employers, users and occupational health providers to better assess, compare and manage risk. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan 2020-08-28 2020-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7708743/ /pubmed/32863315 http://dx.doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2020-0133 Text en ©2020 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) License. |
spellingShingle | Original Article JOHANNING, Eckardt STILLO, Marco LANDSBERGIS, Paul Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway maintenance-of-way workers |
title | Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
title_full | Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
title_fullStr | Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
title_full_unstemmed | Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
title_short | Powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in US-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
title_sort | powered-hand tools and vibration-related disorders in us-railway
maintenance-of-way workers |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7708743/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32863315 http://dx.doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.2020-0133 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT johanningeckardt poweredhandtoolsandvibrationrelateddisordersinusrailwaymaintenanceofwayworkers AT stillomarco poweredhandtoolsandvibrationrelateddisordersinusrailwaymaintenanceofwayworkers AT landsbergispaul poweredhandtoolsandvibrationrelateddisordersinusrailwaymaintenanceofwayworkers |