A PROCEDURE FOR DEVELOPING A VIBRATION TEST METHOD FOR SPECIFIC CATEGORIES OF INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS

Industrial trucks drivers may be exposed to high values of whole-body vibration with frequencies below 10 Hz due to surface irregularities a nd the lack of suspension systems on these vehicles. Machinery Directi ve 89/392/EEC and its amendments require that vibration measurements b e made and values put into the instruction books if the whole body vib ration values are greater than 0.5 m/s(2). A standard (pr EN 13059) ha s been prepared to provide a method so that different establishments o btain comparable and representative results of vibration measurements. The procedure consists of measuring the vibration transmitted to the operator when the truck is travelling over a test track made up of a s traight length of good quality surface with obstacles whose characteri stics depend on the type of truck and its wheel characteristics. The a im of this paper is to report the methodology which was used to develo p the test method for each specific category of industrial truck. This paper emphasizes the qualities to be expected from a vibration test c ode which should provide repeatable, representative, valid, and inexpe nsive results. (C) 1998 Academic Press.