About NIOSH91 Lifting or Lowering Analysis Results
After you have run an analysis, the results appear in the Results section of the Lifting and Lowering (NIOSH) Analysis dialog box. There are two results in each group:
• The Recommended Weight Limit is the recommended weight of a load that the majority of healthy workers are able to lift over a period up to eight hours without an increased risk of lifting-related lower back pain or injury, as long as all the other task parameters remain unchanged.
• The Lifting Index (LI) is a relative estimate of the physical stress associated with a manual lifting job. As the magnitude of the LI increases, the level of the risk to a given worker increases. A greater percentage of the work force is likely to be at risk of developing lifting-related lower back pain.
From a NIOSH perspective, lifting tasks with an LI rating of greater than 1.0 pose an increased risk for the development of lifting-related lower back pain and injury. According to NIOSH, all lifting jobs should be designed for an intended LI rating of 1.0 or less.