WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION EXPOSURES IN BUS DRIVERS - AN EVALUATION ACCORDING TO NR15 BRAZILIAN REGULATORY STANDARD
Maria Alzira de Araújo Nunes1; Rita de Cássia Silva1
1 University of Brasilia
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-0042
Resumo
Whole-body vibration (WBV) is one of the mainly risk factor for bus drivers. WBV can degrade many systems in the body hampering the function of the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, endocrine, nervous and gastrointestinal systems. All these disorders can result in substantial direct and indirect cost to the employer and employee. Last year, the Brazilian Ministry of Labor updated the Regulatory Standard nº15 (Annex8) where is clearly listed the occupational exposure limits to WBV. Nowadays, due to many lawsuits from bus drivers requesting insalubrious condition, the authors established a partnership with a private company in order to investigate the levels of vibration for intercity bus drivers on-the-job using ISO 2631-1:1997 standards. This paper presents a partial stage which consists in estimating the WBV exposure of 17 bus drivers in different roads (private and public) located in different states in the country. Tri-axial accelerations of WBV were obtained by using a seat pad and a portable data logger. The weighted rms acceleration - A(8) and vibration dose value - VDV(8) were estimated and compared with respect to the actual NR15(8) and NHO09 standard. Experimental results indicate that 29% of rated drivers are in acceptable condition and 71% are in the action limit range, but none of them are in insalubrious condition.
Palavras-chave: whole-body vibration; bus driver; exposure; insalubrity