NIOSH Lifting Equation

Introduction
• The NIOSH Lifting Equation is a tool used by occupational
health and safety professionals to assess the manual material
handling risks associated with lifting and lowering tasks in the
workplace. This equation considers job task variables to determine
safe lifting practices and guidelines.
• The primary product of the NIOSH lifting equation is the
Recommended Weight Limit (RWL), which defines the
maximum acceptable weight (load) that nearly all healthy
employees could lift over the course of an 8 hour shift without
increasing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) to the lower
back. In addition, a Lifting Index (LI) is calculated to provide a
relative estimate of the level of physical stress and MSD risk
associated with the manual lifting tasks evaluated.
NIOSH Lifting Equation Outputs
• Recommended Weight Limit (RWL): Answers the question… “Is this
weight too heavy for the task?”
• Lifting Index (LI): Answers the question… “How significant is the risk?”
• A Lifting Index value of less than 1.0 indicates a nominal risk to healthy
employees. A Lifting Index of 1.0 or more denotes that the task is high risk
for some fraction of the population. As the LI increases, the level of low
back injury risk increases correspondingly. Therefore, the goal is to design
all lifting jobs to accomplish a LI of less than 1.0.
• The NIOSH lifting equation always uses a load constant (LC) of 51 pounds,
which represents the maximum recommended load weight to be lifted
under ideal conditions. From that starting point, the equation uses several
task variables expressed as coefficients or multipliers (In the equation, M =
multiplier) that serve to decrease the load constant and calculate the RWL
for that particular lifting task.
NIOSH Lifting Equation:
• NIOSH Lifting Equation: LC (51) x HM x VM x DM x AM x FM x CM = RWL
• Task variables needed to calculate the RWL:
• H = Horizontal location of the object relative to the body
• V = Vertical location of the object relative to the floor
• D = Distance the object is moved vertically
• A = Asymmetry angle or twisting requirement
• F = Frequency and duration of lifting activity
• C = Coupling or quality of the workers grip on the object
• Lifting Index (LI): Weight ÷ RWL = LI
• Additional task variables needed to calculate the LI:
• Average weight of the objects lifted
• Maximum weight of the objects lifted
 How to Use the NIOSH Lifting
Equation
Step 1: Determine Task Variables Needed

• The evaluator should prepare by interviewing and observing workers to gain a complete
understanding of all required lifting tasks. Selection of the lifting tasks to be evaluated should be
based on the most significant and demanding manual material handling tasks. If the job requires a
wide variety of lifting tasks, a multi-task evaluation can be performed using a composite of all single-
task lifting assessments performed. More on that later, but for now let’s focus on single-task
assessments.

• To determine the task variables needed: Gather information, interview supervisors, group leaders, and
workers to determine the origin (start position) and the destination (ending position) of the lifting or
lowering task, and whether significant control of the object being lifted or lowered is required at the
destination of the lift. Significant control is a condition of the task that requires precision placement of
the load at the destination of the lift. For example, when an object is fragile and careful placement is
needed to protect the object from damage. Or, the worker needs to change grip or hold or guide the
object at the lifting or lowering destination.

• If any of these conditions exist, significant control at the destination is required. You will then need to
collect all other task variable data at the destination (in addition to the origin) to accurately determine
the RWL. If significant control is not required at the destination, the only measurement you will need
at the destination is the vertical location (V) of the hands to determine the vertical travel distance (D)
from the origin of the lifting task.
Step 2: Measure and Record Task Variables
The next step is to gather the needed information and
perform the measurements for each lifting task variable, and
record the data to be used later to calculate the RWL and LI
for the tasks being evaluated. For each lifting task analyzed,
the evaluator will need to determine the task variables as
outlined above. We have developed the following worksheet
to assist you with data collection:
Horizontal Location of the
Hands (H)
Horizontal Location of the Hands (H) – Measure and record the
horizontal location of the hands at both the start (origin) and end
(destination) of the lifting task. The horizontal location is measured as
the distance (inches) between the employee’s ankles to a point
projected on the floor directly below the mid-point of the hands
grasping the object as pictured below:
Vertical Location of the Hands
(V)
• 2) Vertical Location of the Hands (V) – Measure and record the
vertical location of the hands above the floor at the start (origin) and
end (destination) of the lifting task. The vertical location is measured
from the floor to the vertical mid-point between the two hands as
shown below. The middle knuckle can be used to define the mid-
point.
Vertical Travel Distance (D)
• Vertical Travel Distance (D) – The vertical travel distance of a lift is
determined by subtracting the vertical location (V) at the start of the
lift from the vertical location (V) at the end of the lift. For a lowering
task, subtract the V location at the end from the V location at the
start.
Asymmetric Angle (A)
• Asymmetric Angle (A) – Measure the degree to which the body is required to
twist or turn during the lifting task. The asymmetric angle is the amount (in
degrees) of trunk and shoulder rotation required by the lifting task. Note:
Sometimes the twisting is not caused by the physical aspects of the job design,
but rather by the employee using poor body mechanics. If this is the case, no
twisting (0 degrees) is required by the job. If twisting is required by the design of
the job, determine the number of degrees the back and body trunk must twist or
rotate to accomplish the lift. (i.e. 90° as pictured below)
Coupling (C)
• Coupling (C) – Determine the classification of the quality of the coupling between the
worker’s hands and the object as good, fair, or poor (1, 2, or 3). A good coupling will
reduce the maximum grasp forces required and increase the acceptable weight for
lifting, while a poor coupling will generally require higher maximum grasp forces and
decrease the acceptable weight for lifting.
• 1 = Good – Optimal design containers with handles of optimal design, or irregular
objects where the hand can be easily wrapped around the object.
• 2 = Fair – Optimal design containers with handles of less than optimal design, optimal
design containers with no handles or cut-outs, or irregular objects where the hand
can be flexed about 90°.
• 3 = Poor – Less than optimal design container with no handles or cut-outs, or irregular
objects that are hard to handle and/or bulky (e.g. bags that sag in the middle)
Frequency (F)
• Frequency (F) – Determine the appropriate lifting frequency of lifting
tasks by using the average number of lifts per minute during an
average 15 minute sampling period. For example, count the total
number of lifts in a typical 15 minute period of time and divide that
total number by 15.
• Minimum = 0.2 lifts/minute
• Maximum is 15 lifts/minute.
Load (L) & Duration (Dur)
• Load (L) – Determine the weight of the object lifted. If necessary, use a scale
to determine the exact weight. If the weight of the load varies from lift to
lift, you should record the average and maximum weights lifted.
Duration (Dur) – Determine the lifting duration as classified into one of three
categories: Enter 1 for short-duration, 2 for moderate-duration and 8 for long-
duration as follows:
1 = Short – lifting ≤ 1 hour with recovery time ≥ 1.2 X work time
2 = Moderate – lifting between 1 and 2 hours with recovery time ≥ 0.3 X lifting
time
8 = Long – lifting between 2 and 8 hours with standard industrial rest
allowances
Step 3: Enter Data / Calculate
RWL and LI
• In step 2, we determined and recorded the lifting task variables in our
worksheet. The following is an example of a completed worksheet:
Practical Exercise (Manual
Calculation)
&
Use of Software
Manual Calculation
Six Factors referred as MULTIPLIERS (or Reduction Factors);
Horizontal Location (HM) (10/H)
Vertical Location (VM) 1-(.0075*(v-30))
Vertical Distance Travel (DM) {.82+(1.8/D)}
Asymmetry (AM) 1-(.0035xA)
Frequency (FM) From Lookup Table
Coupling (CM) From Lookup Table
All Multiplier are ≤ 1 (Cant not be More than 01)
= 51 lb x HM x VM x DM x AM x FM x CM
Note: 51 is constant