Glove and Tool Intervention to Reduce Hand-Arm Vibration

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的干预研究旨在减少电动工具的显著振动暴露，涉及一个由NIOSH内部和外部调查人员组成的团队。它假定防振工具设计与某些可用作手套的吸收材料相结合，可以提供特定频率的滤波和消除，这可能会消除特定工具振动暴露的临床和一些亚临床后遗症。拟议的结构化干预，加上密集的实验室评估，提出了两个假设：1)匹配手套和工具的透射谱可以从根本上减少向手-手臂系统的能量转移；2)通过专门的传感器实时、全班记录暴露和跨班生理反应的测量可以准确地量化暴露减少。为了达到研究目标，将需要以下内容：1.现场环境，其中振动的传递性可以在整个工作日内进行评估，同时考虑到握力和姿势、工作模式、恢复和多种工具的变化。2.一个应用实验室，可以用熟练的人类受试者对工具和手套进行评估，以量化最有希望的工具和材料。3.配备激光测振仪和三轴激励发生器的基础科学实验室，用于在野外测量的工具的时间域和力域中产生三维复制品。4.配备电子实验室，以便对用于现场测试的数据记录器和传感器进行适当修改，以及用于检测手功能快速交叉变化的计时器。一家主要的国家制造商已经加入了这一项目。这项研究旨在为数百万美国工人提供具有重要公共健康后果的手臂振动保护的实用解决方案。 与公共健康相关：近一个世纪以来，人们已经认识到工业振动对双手的不利影响。我们建议进行一项干预研究，使用现有的防振(AV)电动工具和手套，以减少振动暴露。我们建议，通过将特定工具的手套-工具组合的实验室优化与现场研究相结合来验证性能，我们可以成功地将暴露降低到最终可以预防症状性疾病的水平。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposed intervention study to reduce significant vibratory exposures from power tools involves a team of extramural and NIOSH intramural investigators. It presumes that anti-vibration tool design coupled to certain absorbent materials, available as gloving, can in combination provide frequency specific filtering and cancellation that will likely eliminate clinical and some sub-clinical sequalae of tool-specific vibratory exposure. The proposed structured intervention, coupled to intensive laboratory assessment, advances two hypotheses: 1) that matching the transmission spectra of gloves and tools can radically reduce energy transfer to the hand- arm system; and 2) that the real time, full-shift, logging of exposure through specialized sensors and the measurement of cross-shift physiological responses can accurately quantify exposure reduction. In order to reach study aims, the following will be required: 1. Field settings where transmissibility of vibration to the hand can be assessed over a full working day, while accounting for variation in grip and posture, work patterns, recovery, and multiple tools. 2. An applied laboratory where tools and gloves can be evaluated with skilled human subjects to quantify the most promising tools and materials. 3. A basic sciences laboratory equipped with laser vibrometry and a tri-axial stimulus generator for producing 3-D replica in the time and force domains of tools measured in the field. 4. An electronics laboratory equipped to make appropriate revisions to data loggers and sensors for field testing, and tactometers for detecting rapid cross-shift changes in hand function. A major national manufacturer has joined this project. This study is designed to provide a practical solution to hand-arm vibration protection with important public health consequences for several million American workers. Public Health Relevance: The adverse effects on the hands from industrial exposure to vibration have been recognized for almost a century. We propose an intervention study featuring the use of available anti-vibration (AV) power tools and gloves in order to reduce vibration exposure. We suggest that by pairing laboratory-based optimization of glove-tool combinations for specific tools together with a field study to verify performance we can successfully lower exposures to a level where symptomatic disease can ultimately be prevented.