Effectiveness of Specific Lifting Techniques and Tools on Workload in a Lifting Situation – A Case Study

A lot of workers complain of backache, muscular pains and working in painful or tiring postures [1]. To reduce workload and consequently the drop out of workers due to these complaints, companies adapt the work place, provide tools and/or give training. The objective of this study is to investigate in a real working environment during picking of boxes, the effect of using good lifting techniques and/or work height adjustments on the physical workload. Five subjects, with experience in lifting, were asked to pick up 12 boxes of 11 kg from a pallet and place them on a cart. They had to repeat this four times. Two times with the pallet on the ground, using first a bad and then a good technique, and two times with an increased height, also using first a bad and then a good technique. 3D registration of movements (TEA, CAPTIV), was used to measure the postures of back and hips. Due to the small amount of subjects, a descriptive analysis was used. Results showed that using a good technique and increased working height can help to reduce the time spent in harmful postures of the back during lifting boxes. Further research is needed with larger groups of subjects to evaluate these results.