june2023 - 30

» Lifts position work at the most ergonomically comfortable height.
Amerit Fleet Solutions
technology matures and costs come
down, they should also find a use in
the shop, particularly where older
workers find themselves performing
several hours a day of overhead work.
But they aren't the only solution
to improve ergonomics. Even the
most ubiquitous shop equipment,
lifts, help prevent injuries during
extended periods of standing.
According to Jason Matthews,
We Keep the
World Trucking
When you need your truck to work as hard
as you do, trust Delphi Technologies to
deliver the parts built for the toughest work
environments. From construction sites to
long-distance hauling, go with the aftermarket
supplier known for its 100+ years of OE
heritage and expertise.
product manager for automotive lifts
with Vehicle Service Group, two-post
lifts such as Rotary's SPO16/20
Series symmetric lifts can be used
to enhance technician comfort.
" Having the ability to raise the
vehicle up to a comfortable height
where you can walk underneath
it, or you can lower it down so that
you can grab the tires or the wheel
assembly to remove those at a more
natural position, is going to make
it easier to do the work with less
straining, and make you less prone
to injury, " Matthews explained.
These lifts can also be outfitted
with other accessories to avoid lifting
and bending with heavy tires,
such as Rotary's Wheel Wing tire
hanger, the B2000P Wheel Balancer
from John Bean, or the ATD-7478 lifting
table from ATD Tools Inc.
" Today, there's a lot of 4x4 trucks,
delphiaftermarket.com
Delphi Technologies is a brand of BorgWarner Inc.
and all these guys like to put the
big tires on them, so in some of our
stores, we do have some extra lifting
devices for that, " said Benjie Greene,
commercial director, Black's Tire and
Auto Service. " When we're balancing
tires, especially on the truck side,
we've got the lifts installed on the
balancers. If we're having to make a
tire repair and we've got a spreader,
we've got the air-assisted lift where
our guys are not having to lift that
heavy tire up on that spreader to
facilitate the repair. "
30 Fleet Maintenance | June 2023
Back pain
Technicians spend just as much time
kneeling by vehicles as they do standing
beneath them. This can invite
back strain as well as injuries from
repetitive repair movements, such
as shoulder tendinitis and shoulder
pain, as the National Institute
for Occupational safety and Health
(NIOSH) reported in a 1995 study.
The risks of this repetitive overhead
work, especially with a tool in hand,
remain as true today as in the '90s.
" For the shoulder, the most
common injury we hear about in the
advanced stages is rotator cuff tears, "
explained Ottobock's Rieger. " And
then in the back, it's anything with
the spinal discs, really L5 or S1 type
of strains-slipped discs, etc., that
come from that repetitive strain. "
The L5 and S1 spinal sections refer
to the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum,
or lower back, which handles much of
the strain involved in crouching and
bending at the waist. This is where
Ottobock's exoskeletons come in.
Ottobock's mechanical exoskeletons
for the back or shoulder use
spring-assisted mechanisms to help
bear the weight of a tech's torso
or arm when they change their
posture from bending or crouching
and return to their normal position,
taking the load of the body from one
section and transferring it to another.
" We have folks that kneel and
have to work in front of them on
the floor, and they still have that
support for their back, " noted
Rieger, speaking of an aircraft maintenance
use case. " The exoskeletons
are more like a tool. They're often
kept in a tool crib where folks go
and rent out different tools, because
their work instructions may say
'Consider using exoskeleton type:
Ottobock Shoulder.' "
http://www.delphiaftermarket.com https://qrstud.io/261aes0
june2023

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