WHOLE BODY VIBRATION OF A PUSHTOW BOAT CREW OPERATING ON THE DANUBE RIVER
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to determine the Whole Body Vibration (WBV) of the workers operating on a pushtow boat on the Danube. Experiments were made on a Danube pushtow boat between Braila - Galati (a distance of about 20 km). The vibrations measurements were made with Maestro 01dB (to measure the vibrations transmitted to the people) and with Examiner (to measure the vibrations produced by the equipment). Measurements were made on the main deck. Six male subjects, aged of 25-48 years, weighting 68-95 kg, participated in this experiment. No subject drinks alcohol frequently, 4 of the subjects smoke. The accelerations transmitted to workers were measured on all three directions and the weighted acceleration, the vibrations dose and the estimated vibration were calculated for 2 situations: idling and with load. It is noted that, in case of load, all accelerations are higher than in the case of idling. The Ar.m.s. for both situations (idling and with load) are more than 18 times higher than the values above which adverse comments are probable. The dose value and the estimated vibration dose value are much higher than the limit value at which the action starts. In these situations, it would be better to replace the old engine with a new one. If this is not possible, it would be good to place the engine on vibroabsorbing materials.
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