Biomechanical Analysis of Manual Material Handling Tasks on Scaffold

Working on elevated surfaces such as scaffolds has high risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), injuries, and fatal accidents. In the past, researches have studied postural stability, rotational postural stability, and cardiovascular stress of manual works on scaffold. Most of these studies focused on erecting and dismantling scaffold end-frames. However, there is a necessity for biomechanical evaluation of manual material handling (MMH) tasks and study of the effect of independent factors such as scaffold height, task type, and weights on low-back compression, shear forces, and perceived task difficulty. This study focuses on evaluating the biomechanical stresses on lower back due to the three MMH tasks using three different weights at two levels of the scaffold height using 3DSSP models. The statistical analysis result shows that a significant increase in low-back compression and shear forces with the scaffold height and lifting weights.