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External Hand Forces Exerted by Long-Term Care Staff to Push Floor-Based Lifts
- Source :
- Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 58:927-943
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of flooring type and resident weight on external hand forces required to push floor-based lifts in long-term care (LTC). Background: Novel compliant flooring is designed to reduce fall-related injuries among LTC residents but may increase forces required for staff to perform pushing tasks. A motorized lift may offset the effect of flooring on push forces. Method: Fourteen female LTC staff performed straight-line pushes with two floor-based lifts (conventional, motor driven) loaded with passengers of average and 90th-percentile resident weights over four flooring systems (concrete+vinyl, compliant+vinyl, concrete+carpet, compliant+carpet). Initial and sustained push forces were measured by a handlebar-mounted triaxial load cell and compared to participant-specific tolerance limits. Participants rated pushing difficulty. Results: Novel compliant flooring increased initial and sustained push forces and subjective ratings compared to concrete flooring. Compared to the conventional lift, the motor-driven lift substantially reduced initial and sustained push forces and perceived difficulty of pushing for all four floors and both resident weights. Participants exerted forces above published tolerance limits only when using the conventional lift on the carpet conditions (concrete+carpet, compliant+carpet). With the motor-driven lift only, resident weight did not affect push forces. Conclusion: Novel compliant flooring increased linear push forces generated by LTC staff using floor-based lifts, but forces did not exceed tolerance limits when pushing over compliant+vinyl. The motor-driven lift substantially reduced push forces compared to the conventional lift. Application: Results may help to address risk of work-related musculoskeletal injury, especially in locations with novel compliant flooring.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Engineering
medicine.medical_specialty
Human Factors and Ergonomics
Body weight
03 medical and health sciences
Behavioral Neuroscience
0302 clinical medicine
Floors and Floorcoverings
medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
030212 general & internal medicine
050107 human factors
Applied Psychology
Moving and Lifting Patients
business.industry
Body Weight
05 social sciences
Structural engineering
Long-Term Care
Biomechanical Phenomena
Long-term care
Physical therapy
Female
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15478181 and 00187208
- Volume :
- 58
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4b8a78e83235772ba9b4895eca50640f