A METHOD FOR MEASURING THE VIBRATION ATTENUATION CHARACTERISTICS OF RESILIENT TOOL WRAP MATERIALS IN A SHIPYARD PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT

To determine the relative effectiveness of several resilient tool wrap materials in reducing the vibration of a pneumatic hand grinder exten sively used in a shipyard production environment, a testing situation was developed to closely simulate the production process. Data from th e unwrapped tool and a similar tool wrapped with a variety of resilien t materials was collected in twenty 2-minute trials in the performance of a standardized task. instead oi using the ANSI 53.34-1986 recommen ded handheld metal plate as the triaxial accelerometer mount, a clampe d accelerometer mount was designed and used. This served to constrain the variability found to exist with a handheld mount where hand pressu re can vary during the measurement period, thus influencing the measur ed vibration levels. Data analysis was performed in accordance With AN SI 53.34-1986. Vibration attenuation resulting from the use of various tool wrap materials is presented both for the ANSI weighted 5-1400 Hz range and for tile unweighted 5-5000 Hz range, ac recommended by the National institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Details regardi ng the design and use of the clamped accelerometer mount are given to assist health professionals in the measurement of hand-arm vibration i n a production environment and iri the hope that others will further e xplore this iii situ research methodology.