Resources

Cal/OSHA Consultation Service
Consultative assistance is provided to employers through on-site visits, telephone support, publications, eTools and educational outreach. All services provided by Cal/OSHA Consultation are provided free of charge to California employers.
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/consultation.html

Organizations

The following organizations may provide additional information on material handling equipment and work practises.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ANSI coordinates the U.S. voluntary consensus standards system, approves American National Standards, and is the sole U.S. representative and dues-paying member of the International Organization for Standardization and the IEC.
www.ansi.org

American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) APICS — The Educational Society for Resource Management is a not-for-profit international educational organization that offers education and professional certifi cation programs.
www.apics.org

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) ASME membership includes opportunities to share new concepts, spearhead solutions, and advance the science and practice of mechanical engineering through the programs of its 36 technical divisions and four institutes. ASME International is a nonprofit educational and technical organization serving a worldwide membership of 125,000.
www.asme.org

Association of Professional Material Handling Consultants (APMHC) APMHC is a professional society composed of individual consultants in the material-handling field.
www.mhia.org/PS/PS_APMHC_WhatIsAPMHC.cfm

The Automated Material Handling Systems Association For over 27 years, the Automated Materials Handling Systems Association (formerly Automated Storage Retrieval Systems/Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems Users’ Association) has promoted the sharing of knowledge and experience among its members, both users and vendors, to provide proven solutions to common warehousing/automation problems.
www.amhsa.co.uk

College-Industry Council on Materials Handling Education (CICMHE) The council provides information, teaching materials, and various events in support of education and research on material handling.
www.mhia.org/et/ET_MHI_CICMHE_Home.cfm

Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) CEMA’s purpose is to promote voluntary standardization of conveyor design, manufacture, and application.
www.cemanet.org

Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals seeks to enhance the development of the logistics profession by providing information and educational opportunities.
www.cscmp.org

Darcor and Ergoweb ® Ergonomic White Paper The Ergonomics of Manual Material Handling - Pushing and Pulling Tasks
www.darcor.com/library_wp.htm

Fédération Européenne de la Manutention (FEM) FEM is the European manufacturers association of materials handling and lifting and storage equipment. It represents the technical, economic, and political interests of the industry. FEM serves technical progress and improves safety at work through the establishment of guidelines and business codes.
www.fem-eur.com

Industrial Truck Association (ITA) ITA’s site includes directory of members’ products by truck class, information on vendorsponsored operator training programs, data on standards for trucks and parts, events of the lift-truck industry, annual statistics on U.S. shipments of industrial trucks, and more.
www.indtrk.org

Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) The IIE is a professional society dedicated to advancing the technical and managerial excellence of those concerned with improving the productivity of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment, and energy. The IIE serves the professional needs of industrial engineers and all individuals involved with improving quality and productivity.
www.iienet.org

International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) The IWLA is the unifi ed voice of the global logistics outsourcing industry, representing third-party warehousing, transportation, and logistics service providers.
www.iwla.com

Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) The Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA) is the only trade association dedicated solely to improving the profi ciency of the independent material-handling equipment distributor.
www.mheda.org

Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) The MHIA is the nonprofi t umbrella organization overseeing its two membership divisions: The Material Handling Institute (MHI) and the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA). This vendor association’s site includes a directory of MHIA members and its products as well as information on available literature.

The Material Handling Institute is the educational wing of the MHIA.
www.mhia.org

The following are product sections or councils within the MHIA:

• Automated Storage/Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) www.mhia.org/ASRS
• Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) www.mhia.org/AGVS
• Conveyor Product Section (CPS) www.mhia.org/CPS
• Crane Manufacturers Association of America, Inc. (CMAA) www.mhia.org/CMAA
• Ergonomic Assist Systems and Equpment (EASE) www.mhia.org/EASE
• Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) www.mhia.org/HMI
• Institute of Caster Manufacturers (ICWM) www.mhia.org/ICWM
• Integrated Systems < Controls Council (ICS) www.mhia.org/ICS
• Lift Manufacturers Product Section (LMPS) www.mhia.org/LMPS
• Loading Dock Equipment Manufacturers (LODEM) www.mhia.org/LODEM
• Monorail Manufacturers Association, Inc. (MMA) www.mhia.org/MMA
• Order Fulfi llment Council (OFC) www.mhia.org/OFC
• Reusable Plastic Container and Pallet Association (RPCPA) www.mhia.org/RPCPA
• Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association (SMA) www.mhia.org/SMA

Materials Handling < Management Society (MHMS) The MHMS is an individual membership organization for the materials-handling practitioner and the materials-handling community.
www.mhia.org/PS/PS_MHMS_Home.cfm

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) The NAM is the nation’s largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states.
www.nam.org

National Wooden Pallet < Container Association (NWPCA) The NWPCA is dedicated to the success of its members by helping them create costeffective, environmentally responsible solutions to meet their customers’ changing unit load handling needs.
www.nwpca.com

Packaging Machinery Manufacturing Institute (PMMI) The PMMI is a resource for packaging. PMMI’s mission states that it is committed to improving, leading, and unifying all segments of the packaging industry worldwide.
www.pmmi.org

Robotics Industries Association (RIA) The RIA is North America’s only trade association focused exclusively on robotics. More than 250 member companies represent leading robot manufacturers, system integrators, end users, and researchers.
www.robotics.org

Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is a nonprofi t, professional society dedicated to the advancement of scientifi c knowledge in the fi eld of manufacturing engineering. SME is a professional society serving the manufacturing industries. SME has some 60,000 members in 70 countries and supports a network of hundreds of chapters worldwide.
www.sme.org

Supply-Chain Council (SCC) The Supply-Chain Council’s membership is primarily practitioners representing a broad cross-section of industries, including manufacturers, services, distributors, and retailers.
www.supply-chain.org

University of California Agricultural Ergonomics Research Center, UC Davis This center’s mission is to understand and apply ergonomic approaches to the development and evaluation of equipment designs and work practices that prevent musculoskeletal disorders in agricultural work.
The “pot lifter” was developed to lift and carry pots and other cylindrical containers. For detailed information on this device, go to http://ag-ergo.ucdavis.edu
Click on:

• Help for Industry
• Other resources for industry
• Tip Sheet 001:Nursery Lifting Tool (English and Spanish)

Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) is the professional association for those in warehousing and distribution. WERC is a not-for-profi t organization with more than 4,000 individual members.
www.werc.org

Analysis Methods

The following methods are comprehensive tools designed to provide a detailed analysis of various types of manual material handling tasks. They can be used to evaluate lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying, and other activities.

NIOSH Lifting Equation
The NIOSH Lifting Equation is a tool used to evaluate manual lifting tasks. This equation allows the user to insert the exact conditions of the lift (e.g., height, distance lifted, weight, position of weight relative to body, etc.). This equation accounts for asymmetrical lifts and objects that are diffi cult to grasp.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/94-110.html

ACGIH Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for Lifting
The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommends guidelines for safe lifting. The Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) for lifting recommend upper and lower limits based upon frequency, duration, and other risk factors associated with lifting.

The following ACGIH Publications may be helpful:

• TLVs and BEIs (#0106)
• Lifting: TLV Physical Agents (7th Edition) Documentation (#7DOC-734)

To purchase publications, go to www.acgih.org/store or call (513) 742-2020.

University of Michigan 3D Static Strength Prediction Program
3D Static Strength Prediction Program software predicts static strength requirements for tasks such as lifts, presses, pushes, and pulls. The program provides an approximate job simulation that includes posture data, force parameters, and male/female anthropometry. The results include the percentage of men and women who have the strength to perform the described job, spinal compression forces, and data comparisons to NIOSH guidelines. The user can analyze torso twists and bends and make complex hand force entries. Analysis is aided by an automatic posture generation feature and three-dimensional human graphic illustrations.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/dept/ioe/3DSSPP/

Ohio State Lumbar Motion Monitor
Traditionally, most workplace ergonomic assessments have focused on joint loading in static postures. However, epidemiologic studies have shown that three-dimensional dynamic motion is associated with an increased risk of occupational injury and illness. The Biodynamics Lab has developed a unique research program that focuses on the study of occupational joint loading under realistic dynamic motion conditions.

The program’s goal is to obtain a better understanding of how much exposure to realistic risk factors is too much.
http://biodynamics.osu.edu/research.html

Snook’s Psychophysical Tables
These tables are based on psychophysical data and provide the maximum acceptable weights and forces for various common tasks including lifting and lowering weights, pulling and pushing forces, and carrying objects. Values are given for different lift heights, number of lifts per minute, and percentiles of male and female populations capable of the task.

S. H. Snook, and V. M. Ciriello. “The Design of Manual Handling Tasks: Revised Tables of Maximum Acceptable Weights and Forces.” Ergonomics 34(9): 1197–1213 (1991).
http://libertymmhtables.libertymutual.com/CM_LMTablesWeb/taskSelection.do?action=initTaskSelection

NIOSH Publications on Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)
NIOSH offers many types of publications including:

• General ergonomics manuals
• Industry or operation-specific manuals
• Ergonomics texts http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ergonomics/