A pilot study was conducted to determine if worker assessments of tool mass, grip force, handle size, and work location were related to corresponding tool and task variables. The workers (13 women and 10 men, who collectively used a total of 33 tools) were asked to rate the tool mass, grip force, handle size, and horizontal and vertical work locations of their own tools on continuous scales of 0 to 10. Significant findings included the following: (1) the weight of nearly all tools with 0.9 to 1.75 kg mass were rated “just right,” (2) the grip force required to use tools of 0.9 to 2.0 kg mass was rated as comfortable, (3) pistol-shaped tools were rated as more comfortable than right-angle tools, (4) workers wearing glovers gave tools a more comfortable grip force rating than workers with bare hands, (5) all tool sizes with handle circumferences less than 12 cm were rated as “just right,” (6) the most comfortable vertical location for using tools was between 102 and 153 cm, and (7) the most comfortable horizontal location for using tools was within 38 cm of the worker. These methods would be useful in further studies using larger samples balanced across exposure categories and looking at health indexes related to chronic soft-tissue disorders.
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Armstrong et al. (1989) studied this question.