Citation

Lü X, Takala EP, Toppila E, Marjanen Y, Kaila-Kangas L, Lu T. Ergonomics 2016; 60(8): 1074-1084.

Affiliation

a Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering , Aalto University , P.O.Box 12100, FIN-02150 , Espoo , Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2016.1250957

PMID

27778757

Abstract

Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) presents an occupational health risk and several safety standards obligate to measure WBV. The high cost of direct measurements in large epidemiological studies raises the question of the optimal sampling for estimating WBV exposures given by a large variation of exposure levels in real worksites. This paper presents a new approach to address this problem. A daily exposure to WBV was recorded for 9 to 24 days among 48 all-terrain vehicle drivers. Four datasets based on root mean squared recordings were obtained from the measurement. The data were modelled using semi-variogram with spectrum analysis and the optimal sampling scheme was derived. The optimum sampling period was 140 minutes apart. The result was verified and validated in terms of its accuracy and statistical power. Recordings of two to three hours are probably needed to get a sufficiently unbiased daily WBV exposure estimate in real worksites. The developed model is general enough that is applicable to other cumulative exposures or biosignals. Practitioner Summary: Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) presents an occupational health risk and safety standards obligate to measure WBV. However, direct measurements can be expensive. This paper presents a new approach to address this problem. The developed model is general enough that is applicable to other cumulative exposures or biosignals.

Language: en