모 선박용 디젤 엔진 제조업체를 대상으로 ACGIH Lifting TLV(R)의 현장 적용 및 평가

American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) adopted the Lifting Threshold Limit Values (TLVS(R)) in 2005 as a guideline for protecting the workers from work-related low back and shoulder disorders associated with repetitive lifting tasks. The TLVs consist of three tables with recommended weight limits for lifting tasks and their determination procedures are simple. The TLVs sans the material weight/the recommended values (LITLVs) were obtained from 45 lifting tasks in ship engine manufacturing factories. These values were compared and correlated with the Recommended Weight Limits (RWLs) and lifting indices (LIs) determined by the Revised Lifting Equation (LE) of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The average ratio, LITLVs/LIs, was 0.8 (LITLVs: 1.3±0.8, LIs: 1.6±0.7). Thus, the TLVs underestimated the risk than the LE. The LITLVs were highly correlated with LIs (r=0.82). The predicted value of LITLVs when LIs=1 wa 0.76. Using the predicted TLVs the higher risk ones of a large number of tasks can be screened to be further investigated.