Pertti Harstela , Kimmo Piirainen

Effect of whole-body vibration and driving a forest machine simulator on some physiological variables of the operator.

Harstela P., Piirainen K. (1985). Effect of whole-body vibration and driving a forest machine simulator on some physiological variables of the operator. Silva Fennica vol. 19 no. 2 article id 5240. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15419

Abstract

The influence of horizontal whole-body vibration of fairly low intensity alone and combined with the mental load and motor action typical for the forest machine drive on heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) was studied by testing five subjects. Horizontal vibration had an influence on HR, HRV and RR. ’Control activities’ had the most influence on RR and HRV, but some influence on HR, too. ’Moving the control devices’ (motor action) gave the same response in HR as ’control activities’, but not in HRV and RR. ’Control activities’ together with ’vibration’ had a more effect on HRV and RR than these two factors singly, but not on HR. The possibilities of using these variables in field studies are discussed.

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Keywords
heart rate; forest workers; ergonomy; occupational health; physical stress; forestry equipment; forest machine drivers; horizontal vibration

Published in 1985

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15419 | Download PDF