Documents Vink, Peter 2 results

"Lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling at work are assumed to be related to increased risks of musculoskeletal injury, mainly in the low back and shoulder region. The implementation of products to reduce the physical load in heavy work is a well-known strategy to attack this problem. The success of these products depends not only on the product itself, but also on the process of product development and implementation. In this paper, seven cases are described where products have been developed to reduce the physical load on scaffolders, bricklayers, bricklayer's assistants, roofworkers, aircraft loaders, glaziers and assembly line workers. These products aredescribed with special reference to the physical load problem in the occupational task, the process of product development, the nature of the product, the potential effects on physical load and the opinion of workers. From these cases, a list of key factors in product development contributing to the success of a product is composed. These concern among others a direct participation of workers, a wide analysis of risks, an analysis of potential negative side effects, and a systematic stepwise approach."

"This study investigates whether the same factors underlie comfort in using different kinds of hand tools (screwdrivers, paintbrushes and handsaws). The underlying factors of the hand tools are identified using principal components analysis. The relationships between comfort descriptors (i.e. statements in end-users' own words that are related to comfort) and comfort factors (i.e. groups of comfort descriptors) with comfort experience are calculated. It is concluded that the same factors (functionality, physical interaction adverse effects on skin and in soft tissues) underlie comfort in different kinds of hand tools, however their relative importance differed. Functionality and physical interaction are the most important factors of comfort in using screwdrivers and paintbrushes (beta 0.73 and 0.67, respectively) and functionality was the most important factor in using handsaws (beta 0.72). Moreover, the most important comfort descriptors differ between different kinds of hand tools. ‘Has a nice feeling handle' (beta 0.27), ‘fits the hand' (beta 0.43) and ‘offers a high task performance' (beta 0.43) are the most important comfort descriptors in using screwdrivers, paintbrushes and handsaws, respectively. Moreover, similarities are seen: ‘Fits the hand' is associated with comfort in all studied hand tools. The results are applied in a flow chart, which designers can use to address the appropriate comfort descriptors in the hand tool design process. "