Center for Family and Community Medicine, Columbia University, USA.
Downstate School of Public Health, State University of New York (SUNY), USA.
Ind Health. 2020 Dec 4;58(6):539-553. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2020-0133. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
Maintenance-of-way workers in North America who construct railroad tracks utilize specialized powered-hand tools, which lead to hand-transmitted vibration exposure. In this study, the maintenance-of-way workers were surveyed about neuro-musculoskeletal disorders, powered-hand tools and work practices. Information about vibration emission data of trade specific powered-hand tools for the North American and European Union markets was searched online to obtain respective user information of manufacturer and compared to non-commercial international data banks. The survey showed that maintenance-of-way workers frequently reported typical hand-transmitted vibration-related symptoms, and appear to be at a risk for neuro-musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremity. Of all of the powered-hand tools used by this trade, 88% of the selected tools exceeded a=5 m/s and were above vibration magnitudes of common tools of other comparable industries. This may create a risk if these tools are used throughout an 8-h work day and management of vibration exposure may be needed. In the North-American market, limited or no vibration emission data is available from manufacturers or distributors. Vibration emission information for powered-hand tools, including vibration emission levels (in m/s), uncertainty factor K, and the applied testing standard/norm may assist employers, users and occupational health providers to better assess, compare and manage risk.
北美铁道养护工人在铺设铁轨时会使用专门的动力手持工具，这会导致手部的振动暴露。在这项研究中，对铁道养护工人进行了关于神经肌肉骨骼疾病、动力手持工具和工作实践的调查。在线搜索了北美和欧盟市场特定行业的动力手持工具的振动发射数据信息，以获取制造商的相关用户信息，并与非商业国际数据库进行了比较。调查显示，铁道养护工人经常报告与手部振动相关的典型症状，并且似乎存在上肢神经肌肉骨骼疾病的风险。在该行业使用的所有动力手持工具中，有 88%的选定工具超过了 a=5 m/s，并且超过了其他可比行业常见工具的振动幅度。如果这些工具在 8 小时工作日内被使用，可能会产生风险，因此需要对振动暴露进行管理。在北美市场，制造商或经销商提供的振动发射数据有限或不存在。动力手持工具的振动发射信息，包括振动发射水平（m/s）、不确定因素 K 以及应用的测试标准/规范，可能有助于雇主、用户和职业健康提供者更好地评估、比较和管理风险。
