A Survey of Industrial Box Handling

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
An analysis was made of videotapes showing more than 2000 different box-handling tasks, performed by workers in nine factories. Sagittally symmetric lifting and lowering tasks were the exception rather than the rule, and there was a high incidence of body twisting as boxes were picked up and put down. Very few boxes had handles; even when handles were provided they were not always used. In the most common hand-hold position, one hand was at the upper-front corner of the box and the other was at the lower-rear corner. This position provided horizontal and vertical stabilization. During those parts of the task in which the subject supported the total weight of the box, this hand position accounted for almost half of the total number of hand positions used. The next most frequently used hand position appeared in fewer than 10% of the tasks. Hand positions were partially determined by subject, box, and task variables. The median box dimensions were 38.0 cm long, 30.5 cm wide, and 21.5 cm high. Median box weight was 9 kg. Most of the reaching occurred when the box was picked up and put down; the box was held relatively close to the body during the rest of the task.