The effect of harness suspension on a simulated maintenance task efficacy in the renewable energy industry.

Stewart, Arthur D.; Gardiner, Matthew; MacDonald, Jonathan; Williams, Hector

Abstract

Building, bridge or wind turbine maintenance requires manual dexterity tasks by a specialist rope-access trained workforce via two principal means: harness suspension of individual workers from above, or deployment of a suspended platform or cradle from which workers access the structure to be maintained. Currently no published research compares accuracy and efficiency of simulated maintenance tasks between these modalities. This study investigated manual dexterity task performance of peg placement and shape delineation in seated, standing and suspended environments in 16 healthy controls and 26 professional rope-access trained individuals. Both seated and standing assessments were superior to those suspended, and height of suspension, total mass and years of experience had no influence on the task outcome. These findings suggest that, where feasible, cradle suspension mechanisms which permit standing maintenance are favourable in terms of task efficacy and where feasible, should be considered for deployment in wind energy and other engineering applications.

Citation

STEWART, A.D., GARDINER, M., MACDONALD, J. and WILLIAMS, H. 2021. The effect of harness suspension on a simulated maintenance task efficacy in the renewable energy industry. Applied ergonomics [online], 90, article ID 103247. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103247

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 15, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 29, 2020
• Publication Date: Jan 31, 2021
• Deposit Date: Aug 21, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 30, 2021
• Journal: Applied ergonomics
• Print ISSN: 0003-6870
• Electronic ISSN: 1872-9126
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 90
• Article Number: 103247
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103247
• Keywords: Rope-access; Harness suspension; Task performance; Pegboard; Shape delineation
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/962120