Health Risk Evaluation of Whole-body Vibration by ISO 2631-5 and ISO 2631-1 for Operators of Agricultural Tractors and Recreational Vehicles

Park, Min Soo; FUKUDA, Takabumi; Kim, Tae-gu; Maeda, Setsuo · 2013 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.2486/indhealth.2012-0045

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Summary

This study evaluates the health risks associated with whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure for operators of agricultural tractors and recreational vehicles (RVs). The research was motivated by the need to compare two primary international standards for assessing WBV health effects: ISO 2631-1:1997, which uses frequency-weighted root-mean-square acceleration, and ISO 2631-5:2004, which assesses lumbar spine compression stress, particularly for vibrations containing multiple shocks. The authors aimed to determine if these standards yield consistent health risk predictions and to quantify exposure levels under various operating conditions. The experimental design involved measuring seat surface vibrations using three-axis piezoelectric accelerometers mounted on the seats of two types of agricultural tractors (small and large) and one RV. Measurements were conducted across different road surfaces (farmland/workplace, asphalt roads, highways) and vehicle speeds. For tractors, speeds ranged from 3.2 km/h to 54 km/h; for the RV, speeds ranged from 40 km/h to 120 km/h. Data was primarily sampled at 160 Hz, with a subset of RV data sampled at 3 kHz to verify sufficiency. The collected acceleration data was processed to calculate the daily equivalent static stress ($S_{ed}$) per ISO 2631-5 and the frequency-weighted RMS acceleration ($A_v$) per ISO 2631-1. Health risk categories were assigned based on established thresholds: $S_{ed} > 0.8$ MPa or $A_v > 0.8$ m/s² indicated a high probability of adverse health effects, while values below 0.5 MPa or 0.5 m/s² indicated a low probability. The results indicated significant differences in vibration exposure between vehicle types and operating environments. Operators of small agricultural tractors in workplace conditions experienced high vibration doses ($S_{ed}$ 0.80 MPa, $A_v$ 0.89 m/s²), exceeding the threshold for a high probability of adverse health effects. Large tractors also showed elevated levels in the workplace, though slightly lower than small tractors. In contrast, RV operators on highways and local roads exhibited low vibration doses ($S_{ed}$ < 0.5 MPa, $A_v$ < 0.5 m/s²), indicating a low probability of adverse health effects regardless of speed. The study found that increasing vehicle speed did not significantly alter vibration doses for RVs. Furthermore, comparing sampling frequencies of 160 Hz and 3 kHz yielded nearly identical health risk assessments, confirming that 160 Hz is sufficient for this evaluation. The study concludes that ISO 2631-5 and ISO 2631-1 provide consistent health risk assessments for the tested scenarios. The findings highlight that agricultural tractor operators, particularly those using small tractors in field conditions, face substantial health risks from WBV, necessitating interventions such as vibration-free breaks. Conversely, RV operators are at low risk under typical driving conditions. The consistency between the two standards suggests that either can be reliably used for health risk evaluation in these contexts, provided the sampling frequency meets the minimum requirements of ISO 2631-5.

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