Maximum Weights and Work Loads Acceptable to Male Industrial Workers

Abstract

Abstract An ergonomic study was conducted to determine man's physical capacities while performing manual materials handling tasks. Twenty-eight subjects from local industry performed three lifting, three lowering, four pushing, one pulling, one walking, and six carrying tasks in a controlled environment of 68° to 72° F and 40% to 55% R.H. Each task was performed at three different rates of work. A psychophysical methodology was used whereby subjects controlled their own work load by adjusting the force variable. The results are used to predict the maximum weights and work loads that are acceptable to different percentages of the male industrial population. Differences and similarities between related tasks are discussed.