ABSTRACT
Since the time hand tools were first developed and refined, there have been just a few major changes in the basic types and designs of common hand tools (e.g., the axe and the hammer have still to undergo major changes in their basic design). There has however been a virtual proliferation in the variety of commercially available hand tools among the common types of tools. The variety in the commercial available of these tools indicates, among other things, that these tools have yet to reach an optimal form. More importantly, the health and productivity problems posed by the use of such a variety of tools indicate the lack of sufficient testing and evaluation of these tools from an ergonomics perspective.
