Modelling of maximum acceptable load of lifting by physical factors

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Abstract
Matching the job demands to a person's physical characteristics is an effective method of reducing the risk involved in a manual materials-handling task. Seventy-three male and 73 female industrial workers served as subjects. Maximum Acceptable Load of Lifting (MAL) was determined psychophysical under each combination of the following task conditions: six ranges of lift (floor to knuckle, floor to shoulder, floor to reach, knuckle to shoulder, knuckle to reach and shoulder to reach); four lifting frequencies (2,4,6 and 81/min); and three box sizes (30·48,45·72 and 60·96cm). A factor-score-based model (R2 = 0-924) is developed in this paper based on 100 subjects for predicting an individual's MAL and for describing his/her physical characteristics in terms of strength and anthropometric scores. The model was validated on the remaining 46 subjects and was shown to be superior to the previously developed models from the same data set.