Ferro Gabrielle M, Rowson Steven, Madigan Michael L
Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (0118), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics (0298), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
J Safety Res. 2024 Dec;91:50-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.08.003. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
Fall-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered one of the most serious occupational injuries in construction. Given the frequency of falls from ladders, knowledge of head kinematics during ladder falls to the ground may help inform any potential improvement to construction safety helmet design and improve their protection against head injury. Therefore, the goal of this descriptive study was to measure head kinematics during laboratory-induced ladder falls to the ground.
Eighteen young adults wearing a hockey helmet simulated construction tasks that challenged their balance while standing on stepladders and an extension ladder with their feet at heights up to 1.8 m above padding covering the ground. Falls onto the padding occurred spontaneously or were induced by an investigator nudging the ladder to simulate ladder movement resulting from the ground shifting. Optoelectronic motion capture was used to capture head kinematics up to the instant immediately before head impact.
Of 115 total falls, 15 involved head impact with the padding and were analyzed. Head impact during all 15 of these falls occurred on the back of the head. Immediately before impact with the padding, head vertical velocity ranged from 0.42 to 3.88 m/s and head angular velocity about a medial-lateral axis ranged from 60.1 to 1215.5 deg/s.
These data can be used with computer simulations or headform impact testing to estimate true head impact kinematics, or to inform future versions of construction safety helmet testing standards.
This is the first study we are aware of to capture head kinematics of human subjects during ladder falls to the ground. These results have the potential to inform future versions of construction safety helmet testing standards and contribute to improved helmet design for protection against fall-induced head injury.
坠落导致的创伤性脑损伤（TBI）被认为是建筑行业最严重的职业伤害之一。鉴于从梯子上坠落的频率，了解梯子坠地过程中的头部运动学知识可能有助于为建筑安全帽设计的潜在改进提供信息，并提高其对头部损伤的防护能力。因此，这项描述性研究的目的是测量在实验室诱导的梯子坠地过程中的头部运动学。
18名佩戴曲棍球头盔的年轻人模拟建筑任务，他们站在梯子和伸缩梯上，双脚离覆盖地面的软垫高度达1.8米，这些任务挑战了他们的平衡能力。坠落在软垫上的情况是自发发生的，或者是由研究人员推动梯子以模拟地面移动导致的梯子晃动所引发的。使用光电运动捕捉技术来捕捉头部撞击软垫前瞬间的运动学数据。
在总共115次坠落中，有15次涉及头部撞击软垫，并对其进行了分析。在所有这15次坠落中，头部撞击均发生在头后部。在撞击软垫之前，头部垂直速度范围为0.42至3.88米/秒，头部绕内外侧轴的角速度范围为60.1至1215.5度/秒。
这些数据可与计算机模拟或头模撞击测试一起使用，以估计真实的头部撞击运动学，或为未来版本的建筑安全帽测试标准提供参考。
这是我们所知的第一项在梯子坠地过程中捕捉人类受试者头部运动学的研究。这些结果有可能为未来版本的建筑安全帽测试标准提供参考，并有助于改进安全帽设计，以防止坠落导致的头部损伤。
