Validation of the Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool (LiFFT)

Abstract

Manual material handling is common in industry and has demonstrated a strong association with the development of low back disorders (LBDs). Several risk assessment tools exist in the literature to assess acceptable lifting limits, and/or the development of improved design of manual lifting tasks. However, recent evidence has strongly suggested that LBDs (and other MSDs) may the result of a process of mechanical fatigue failure. Prior tools have not used fatigue failure methods to assess risk, which may be beneficial is these disorders are indeed the result of such a process. The purpose of this paper is to describe a new risk assessment tool for manual lifting (LiFFT) and to provide validation of this tool using two existing epidemiological databases. Results demonstrate that the LiFFT cumulative damage measure is significantly associated with low back outcomes in both epidemiological studies.