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The purpose of this study is to explore and assess manual material handling problems involving a vertical rope-pulling task from a scaffold (VRPS). Twenty-five young male Chinese subjects were recruited to participate in this study. The psychophysical method was used to investigate the effects of the rope material (nylon and hemp), rope diameter (6/8'' and 4/8''), object size (bucket diameter 28 cm and 36 cm), operating with and without gloves on the maximum acceptable rope-pulling weight (MAWR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate, respectively. The results showed that the maximum acceptable rope-pulling weights were significantly affected by the rope material, rope diameter, object size and wearing or not wearing gloves. The MAWR for the hemp rope, coarse rope, small object size and without gloves was significantly greater than that for the nylon rope, fine rope, large object size and with gloves, respectively. However, the effect of the rope material, rope diameter, object size and with and without gloves on heart rate was not significant. The mean RPE response was significantly influenced by the rope material, object size and wearing or not wearing gloves. The most stressed body parts were the arms, fingers and wrists. The interaction effect between the rope material and wearing or not wearing gloves was significant. Generally, the VRPS for workers using hemp rope without gloves or using nylon rope without gloves was better than that for the other combinations.
Wu et al. (Sat,) studied this question.