RR612 Whole-body vibration and ergonomics toolkit: phase 1
The exact cause of back pain is often unclear but back pain is more common in jobs that involve certain tasks, one of which is driving. Driving exposes the vehicle's occupants to whole-body vibration and in some cases shocks and jolts, factors which are believed to increase the likelihood of injury or pain in the lower back. The report describes a whole-body vibration and ergonomics toolkit that has been developed for use in assessing driving occupations.
The objectives of this report are:
- to provide a guide on how to approach the control of back pain due to occupational exposure to whole-body vibration and ergonomic risk factors;
- to invite recommendations on how the toolkit detailed in the report can be improved for the vehicles and occupations of interest; and
- to provide a specification for future whole-body vibration data collection activities.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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