ABSTRACT
Heavy physical demands and biomechanical stresses, imposed by the manual handling and lifting of loads, may cause musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limbs and lower back. One method to reduce the physical load is to use material handling devices. However, Hermans et al. (1999) concluded that using such tools did not always decrease muscular activity significantly during the end-assembly of cars. In some situations they found a shift in muscular load to other body regions, resulting in a reduction for the back muscles, but not in the upper limbs. The purpose of this study was to analyse the muscular load in the neck-shoulder region of workers at the Duracell plant while working with three types of hoists during the manufacturing of batteries.
