Predicting slips during ladder climbing: novel methods for assessing shoe-rung friction

项目摘要 从梯子上摔下来会造成工人重伤和死亡。尽管流行病学已经确立 将梯子滑倒和坠落识别为一个重要问题，关于梯子是如何设计的，人们知之甚少 或者个人的身体会影响滑倒和摔倒的风险。此外，还没有测试来评估其摩擦性能 梯级。这一知识差距是设计更安全的梯子和验证其有效性的主要障碍。这个 这项NIOSH R01研究的目的是开发新的方法来评估摩擦性能 梯级、爬梯的摩擦力要求及其与打滑发生的关系 在爬梯子的时候。我们研究的长期目标是制定一套梯子安全指南 (梯子设计指南和安全攀登指南)，这可以导致数量的实质性减少 梯子滑倒事件造成的重伤和死亡。这项研究是一项 现有的研究系列(最初由NIOSH R21拨款资助)，我们开发了新的方法来 测量人体在爬梯过程中对扰动的反应。该委员会的初步研究 该团队已经发表了五篇同行评审论文(第六篇正在评审中)，并召开了15次会议 摘要/会议记录。这项研究包括四个目标。目标1：量化梯子设计对以下方面的影响 所需摩擦系数(RCOF)。根据初步数据，我们假设摩擦要求 将受梯子角度(H1.1)和横档设计(形状：H1.2；尺寸：H1.3)的影响。目标2： 量化个体因素对RCOF的影响，包括身高、肥胖和性别。我们假设的高度是 (H2.1)将与摩擦要求负相关。此外，我们假设，差异将 存在于肥胖组(H2.2)和性别(H2.3)之间。目标3：量化梯子设计对牵引力的影响 性能，由可用摩擦系数(ACOF)衡量。我们假设梯级被指定为 因为防滑将比没有这个标志的(H3.1)表现更好；以及尺寸(H3.2)、方向 (H3.3)和形状(H3.4)会影响摩擦性能。目标4：确定ACOF测量方法 最好的预测是下滑。我们假设滑动可以通过可用的摩擦力和摩擦力来预测 要求(H4.1)，不同的测试方法预测滑移的能力将有所不同(H4.2)。这 预计研究项目将导致对更安全的梯子进行具体的梯子设计干预，例如 阶梯角度、横档大小和横档形状的建议。此外，该项目预计将导致 新的经过验证的测试方法，可用于工业区分高牵引力和低牵引力 梯级设计，使梯子安全设计的未来创新成为可能。这项研究涉及NIOSH的几个 提到从不同级别或梯子上掉下来的计划网格中级目标：6.2(A) (建筑业)、6.13(B)(服务业)、6.16(B)(批发/零售业)、6.18(A)(矿业)。

Project Summary Falls from ladders cause severe injuries and fatalities among workers. Despite well-established epidemiology that identifies slips and falls from ladders as an important problem, little is known regarding how ladder design or an individual's body affects slip and fall risk. Furthermore, no tests exist to assess the friction performance of ladder rungs. This knowledge gap is a major barrier in designing safer ladders and verifying their efficacy. The objective of this NIOSH R01 research study is to develop new methods for assessing friction performance of ladder rungs, friction requirements of ladder climbing, and their relationship with the occurrence of slipping during ladder climbing. The long-term goal of our research is to develop a set of ladder safety guidelines (ladder design guidelines and safe climbing guidelines) that can lead to a substantive reduction in the number of severe injuries and fatalities caused by ladder slip-and-fall events. This research is a continuation of an existing line of research (originally funded by a NIOSH R21 grant) where we have developed novel methods of measuring human subject responses to perturbations during ladder climbing. The preliminary research by the team has led to five published peer-review papers (and a sixth in review) as well as 15 conference abstracts/proceedings. The study consists of four aims. Aim 1: Quantify the impact of ladder design on required coefficient of friction (RCOF). Based on preliminary data, we hypothesize that friction requirements will be influenced by the angle of the ladder (H1.1) and the rung design (shape: H1.2; size: H1.3). Aim 2: Quantify the impact of the individual factors, height, obesity, and sex, on RCOF. We hypothesize that height (H2.1) will be negatively correlated with friction requirements. Furthermore, we hypothesize that differences will exist across obesity groups (H2.2) and sexes (H2.3). Aim 3: Quantify the impact of ladder design on traction performance, measured by the available coefficient of friction (ACOF). We hypothesize that rungs designated as “non-slip” will perform better than those without this designation (H3.1); and that size (H3.2), orientation (H3.3) and shape (H3.4) will influence friction performance. Aim 4: Identify the ACOF measurement methods that best predict slipping. We hypothesize that slipping can be predicted with available friction and friction requirements (H4.1) and that different testing methods will vary in their ability to predict slipping (H4.2). This research project is expected to lead to specific ladder design interventions for safer ladders such as recommendations for ladder angle, rung size, and rung shape. Furthermore, this project is expected to lead to new validated testing methods that can be utilized in industry to discriminate between high and low traction rung designs to enable future innovations in ladder safety design. This research addresses several of NIOSH's Program Grid Intermediate Goals that mention falls from different levels or falls from ladders: 6.2(A) (Construction), 6.13 (B) (Services), 6.16 (B) (Wholesale/Retail), 6.18 (A) (Mining).