In fitting the Manual Materials Handling task to the operator, the interface between the human body and the object handled is of considerable importance. Design of handles in particular is an area in which design data are needed. As a box is raised or lowered, the operator must accommodate to the handles by deviating the wrist. An experiment to measure the effects of this deviation on anatomical, physiological and psychophysical variables was performed. Thirty industrial subjects took part in this static box-holding task. Results showed that changing the handle deviation had about the same effect as changing the box weight by 16%. Radial deviation proved to be worse than ulnar deviation.
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