The aim of this paper was to investigate the effects of obesity on the maximum acceptable weights of lift (MAWL) Two obesity levels were considered: non-obese (18.5 kg/m2≤BMI≤24.9 kg/m2) and extremely obese (BMI≥ 40 kg/m2). Each obesity level had 10 male participants. The participants determined their MAWL for 18 different lifting task conditions (6 lifting frequencies × 3 lifting heights). An ANOVA was conducted to determine the effects of obesity level, lifting height, lifting frequency and their interactions on MAWL. In general, the ANOVA results revealed that obesity does not reduce MAWL. This indicates that there may not be a need to develop new psychophysical lifting limits for the obese worker population. However, in order to develop comprehensive lifting limit guidelines for the obese worker population, future studies should investigate the biomechanical and physiological based lifting tolerance limits for them.
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