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

项目摘要 从梯子上跌落福尔斯会造成工人严重受伤和死亡。尽管流行病学已经很成熟 将梯子上的滑倒和福尔斯视为一个重要问题，但关于梯子的设计 或个人的身体影响滑倒和跌倒的风险。此外，没有测试来评估 梯子的横档这种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。的 这项NIOSH R 01研究的目的是开发评估摩擦性能的新方法， 梯子横档、爬梯的摩擦要求及其与滑倒发生的关系 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），可导致数量大幅减少 梯子滑倒和坠落事件造成的严重伤害和死亡。这项研究是一项 现有的研究线（最初由NIOSH R21赠款资助），我们已经开发了新的方法， 测量人类受试者在爬梯子期间对扰动的反应。初步研究由 该团队已经发表了五篇同行评审论文（第六篇是评审论文），以及15次会议 摘要/会议记录。研究包括四个目标。目标1：量化梯子设计对 摩擦系数（RCOF）。根据初步数据，我们假设摩擦要求 将受到梯子角度（H1.1）和横档设计（形状：H1.2;尺寸：H1.3）的影响。目标二： 量化个体因素（身高、肥胖和性别）对RCOF的影响。我们假设身高 （H2.1）将与摩擦要求呈负相关。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，通过可用摩擦系数（ACOF）测量。我们假设这些梯级 因为“防滑”性能优于无此标识的（H3.1）;尺寸（H3.2）、方向 （H3.3）和形状（H3.4）将影响摩擦性能。目标4：确定ACOF测量方法 最能预测滑倒的地方我们假设滑动可以用可用的摩擦力和摩擦力来预测 不同的试验方法在预测滑动的能力上会有所不同（H4.2）。这 一个研究项目预计将导致具体的梯子设计干预更安全的梯子，如 梯子角度、横档尺寸和横档形状的建议。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 横档设计可实现梯子安全设计的未来创新。这项研究涉及NIOSH的几个 程序网格中间目标提到从不同级别或从阶梯福尔斯：6.2（A） （建筑）、6.13（B）（服务）、6.16（B）（批发/零售）、6.18（A）（采矿）。

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).