Industrial

Health,

1981,

ENERGY

19, 145.

EXPENDITURE

IN MANUAL

A. Samanta
Physiological

& Industrial

LOAD

CARRIAGE

and B.B. Chatterjee

Hygiene

Hygiene & Public Health,

Secn.,

110,

Calcutta-700

All

India

Chittaranjan

073,

Institute

of

Avenue,

INDIA.

(Received November 22, 1980 and in revised form April 3, 1981)

Abstract
the

manual

From observations

carriage

of self selected

of compact

speeds,

on subjects
range

Gross Load

and the speed of carriage

the energy expenditures

on load carriage
loads of a given
(Body

were found

of the tasks

and speeds of carriage

for those employed

Keywords:

Gross

plus

weight

to be the principal

solely

for

over a range

of external

influences

and the cardiorespiratory

performance.
Based on the data collected
the strenuousness
of load carriage tasks
Gross loads

weight

engaged

of weights,

load)

in determining

changes

during

their

a chart has been developed which allows

to be suitably altered by adjustments
of

so that

they

may not become

unduly fatiguing

in them.

Load

carriage-Energy

expenditure-Pulmonary

ventilation-Heart

rate

load-Speed

INTRODUCTION

In common with many developing countries of the world, quite a large

of the labouring

population

whole-time basis.

The

have been extensively

in India is employed in transporting

physiological
investigated

costs associated

in this country

the permissible weight to be manually transported

by Malhotra

with load carriage while walking

and abroad1-3).
by a worker have

Studies concerning
been carried

also reported

physiological

out

et al4); Malhotra and Sengupta5); Das and Saha6); Hughes and Goldman7),

Datta et al8) etc. Datta et al9); Datta and Ramanathan10) and Ramanathan
have

proportion

loads manually on a

studies on different

costs.

modes of load

Most of the investigations

carrying

and

and Datta11)
their

relative

on manual carriage of loads have been

performed in the laboratory, the number of subjects used were small and the natures of
work administered were generally standardized to suit laboratory conditions.
It was
thus

felt that

activity

there

was a need

under actual

working

for further

conditions

studying

in order

this widespread

that

the contributions

occupational
of various

factors encountered

at typical work places to its heaviness

that any regulatory

practices aimed at limiting the physiological strain in those engaged

in it may be made on a more rational basis.

are well documented

and

This study was therefore carried out in

an industry on workers solely engaged in manually

transporting

loads on a permanent

basis.
145

A. SAMANTA

AND

METHODS

Description

B.B. CHATTERJEE

AND MATERIALS

of the tasks examined

The study was conducted in a factory manufacturing

and synthetic detergents.

soap and soap based products

It was observed that a section of workers there were required

to carry compact packages weighing between 24.6 Kg and 48.9 Kg on their heads from
a loading

platform

to the waiting

without any loads.

on different

The

subjects

trucks

self-selected

ranged

on a level cemented yard and walk back

speed of walking measured on various occasions

between

1.42 to 2.03 ms-1.

The distance of the loading

platform to the truck varied from 16.78 to 53.96 meters on different occasions.
It was
also observed that, during actual load carriage, the workers walked with their loads
often at a fast rate along a relatively narrow strip of the courtyard and the interposition
of experimenters

in this place would cause the operation to be held up or to be consider-

ably slowed down, vitiating the measurements

to be made.

It was therefore decided to

simulate as closely as possible the load carrying tasks within a warehouse where a clear
wide passage 40 meters in length was available for this purpose.
Selection of Subjects
Twenty

three young workers were selected from the group engaged whole time in

this task as subjects on whom the observations were to be made.

Naturally,

age, good

physique and nutrition as also apparent physical fitness were thh criteria with which
the selection was made. The principal criterion was of course, the workers' willingness
to volunteer as a subject in the study, the nature of which was explained to them.
The physical characteristics
The

principal

physical

of the subjects :
characteristics

of the subjects

chosen for this study are

summarised in the following table :

It is apparent
physical

that

measurements

the average

healthy

Experimental

the group
and

labouring

age.

was

remarkably

homogeneous

small

weights

The

populations

body

of younger

ages

with

respect

and heights
from

Eastern

to

their

are typical

of

India.

Procedure

From the data recorded at the preliminary

observations

on the selected

subjects

observations

while they

simulated

it was

decided to make

the load carriage

at four

defferent weights of loads, viz., 0, 26, 35 and 44 Kg within the range of weights carried
by them.

These loads were made up of the various packages actually carried and were

identical with those carried most frequently,

without

any

load as pointed out above.

speeds viz., 1.11, 1.39, 1.67 and 1.94 ms-1.

146

the return

journeys

after

loading

being

Each load was to be carried at four different

A protocol was drawn up assigning each of

ENERGY
the

16

(4 ~ 4)

manner.
to

helper

on

one
as

meters
was

asked
any

load

loads

load

was

was

subject

of

repeated

Physiological
The

and

in

by
air

detailed

in

in

referred

to
was

rate

gas

was

the

the

point,

or

without

To

help

pace

adjusting

meter

he
point

starting

keep

a
40

when

starting

minutes.

hand

by

forward

with

to

the

with

the

own

rate

his

intervals.

DB,

carried

the

the

the

course

the

of

by

Weir's

with

the

This

will

uptake

of

et

al14).

of

the

showed

after

each
The

thermal
average

57.1}7.32%.
hours

the

work.

experiments

two

load
of

procedures

Martiz

humidity,

than

action

the

an

watch,

oxygen

relative

more

dynamic

the

Measurements
of

and

forenoon,

specific

stop

by

season.

by

to

computed

of

described

winter

add

standard

Maximum

procedure
the

with

collecting
held

aliquotes

to

cessation

rate.

not

analysing

was

beats

after

uptake,

by
was

did

by

10

21.3}3.04
in

of

the

during

WB,

conducted
influence

timing

heart

during

prevailing

were

avoid

to
out

26.4}3.74

eqperiments

peak

weight

expenditure

immediately

the

its

determined

according

energy

by

according
all

that

oxygen

accessories

determined

the

load,

its

apparatus

and

ventilation,
was

with

so

was

analysis

as

condition
of

to

in

ventilation

subject,

measured

with

determined
were

the

al12)

subsequently

environmental

order

10

pulmonary

bag

uptake

et

still

experiments

the

of

at

the

walking

asked

watch

included

Douglas

behind
oxygen

Haldane

Heart
standing

values

period

placed

Pulmonary

The

step

The

in

rate.

bag.

Consolazio

method13).

subject

reach

to

head

speed,

back

of

assigned
asked

his

walk

given

and

random

be

then

to
to

the

reached

was

stop

floor

studied

heart

Douglas

him.

expired

subject

the

a
he

with

on

parameters

walking

carried

side

marks

he

for

walking,

asked

at

sequence

was

lifted

less

to

Measurements

air

assistant

the

then
and

or

load

He

then

around

As

and

of

his

of

speed.

a more
the

protocol.

was

turn

in

and

was

load

to

working

speed

the
load

given

and

head

normal

by

help

expenditure

expired

be

the

physiological

energy

in

in

CARRIAGE

days
speed

worker

the

same

his

desired

walked

with

The

shelf

the

on

as
the

who

walking

at

different

assigned

with

LOAD

The

up

the

suitable

placed

maintain

experimenter

walking

again

looked
and

passage

on

on

follows.

operation.

the

unload

subject
as

were

passage

actual

of

IN MANUAL

given
was

day

the

end

to

without

given
of
the

the

procedure

end

during

to

to

actual

subject
to

the

experiments

The

walk

EXPENDITURE

All

breakfast

in

food.

RESULTS

Table-1
like
ments

at

increments
nary

provides

pulmonary
each

of

of

sponding
spectively.

the

in the external

ventilation,

values

details

of observations

ventilation,

energy

energy

energy

16

load-speed

load-speed
Similarly

expenditure
was

combinations
the observed

the

principal

It

and the speeds

and

peak

average

during

found

that

rate.

parameters
the experias expected,

increased

The

the

observed

to 36.99 KJ min-1 against

1.11 ms-1

values

was

rate,

of carriage

heart

11.92 KJ min-1

of 0 Kg and

physiological

and peak heart

combinations.

load carried

expenditure

on

expenditure

of peak

and

44 kg

and

pulmo-

range

of

the corre-

1.94 ms-1

re-

heart.
147

Table

A. SAMANTA

AND

Physiological

observations

1.

loads

at different

B.B. CHATTERJEE
during

carriage

of different

speeds

DISCUSSION

Heaviness
The
by

physiological

The

the

stated

above.

also

need

be

figure

shows
within

'

the

The

category.

these

that
acceptable

(KJ

are
carrying

26

light

loads

in

at

carrying

heavy
upto

35
cost,

Kg,

of
'

kg

to

at
as

these

35

in

Fig.

at

1.67

speeds

proposed

and

higher

heavy

',eand every

within

prolonged
'
1.39

Kg

broken

body

speeds

for

44

The

workers'

upto
fall

Kg

heavy

the

ms-1

very

scale

1.

heavy
for

loads

speed

the

workers.

26

adjusted

carrying
a

the

moderately

but

that
Kg

with

of

presented

',e

physiologically

physiological

compared

graphically

(loc.sit.),

indicates
above

was
weights

min-1)

of

criteria

figure

tasks
body

been

boundaries

loads
as

the

respective

have

Christensen

carrying

avoided,
also

performed

148

the

(ms-1)

indicate
to

carrying

the

expenditures

speeds

' according

of
to

energy
four

lines

heavy

heavy

adjusted

average

at

horizontal

and

strain

Christensen15)

loads

as

of the tasks

weights

(1.94

ms-1)
periods

operations.
ms-1
the

This
could
moderately

be

ENERGY

Fig.

1.

Energy

Relationship
transported

the

IN MANUAL

of load carriers

gross

load (weight

LOAD

in carrying

of load

loads

CARRIAGE

at different

carried

speeds.

plus body

weight)

and energy expenditures

regression

lines in Fig. 2 depicting

(E) in KJ min.-1 and

speeds were drawn

equations

expenditure

between

The four
expenditure

EXPENDITURE

and

the gross

by the method of least

correlation

coefficients

(r) have

squares.

The

degree

relationships

between

The

corresponding

energy

at the four
regression

also been included in the same figure.

Statistical analysis show that the above regressions

in each case.

the

load (L) in Kg, transported

were highly

significant

of correlation between energy expenditure

(P<0.001)

(KJ min-1) and

the gross load (Kg) are seen to be quite high at all speeds of carriage and were in the
range of +0.71 to +0.83, indicating that energy expenditures

were linearly

gross loads. This accords with the findings of Datta et al.3).

From the data on observed energy expenditures (KJ min-1), an equation

related

to

was also

derived which may enable the energy expenditure (KJ min-1) to be calculated when the
gross load transported was in the range of 47 to 92 Kg at different speeds ranging
between 1.11 and 1.94 ms-1. The method adopted for arriving at the above equation
149

A. SAMANTA

Fig.

2.

Regression

of energy

at various

speeds

was the same as taken

between

energy

recourse

expenditure

the form, E-=a+bL,

AND B.B. CHATTERJEE

expenditures

to by Bobbert16).

Variation

transported

The

closely linear relationship

with

was assumed to be in

It is clear fron the regression equations

of the a-coefficients

a= 2.67 S + 0.259
lbU

loads

(E) and the gross (L) transported

a and b being constants.

Fig. 2(a) .

on the gross

of carriage.

speeds

in the equation
of carriage.

ENERGY

EXPENDITURE

Fig. 2 (b) .

IN

Variation

MANUAL

of the

b-coefficient

b = 0.184 S - 0.0334

presented

in Fig.

a and b were
and

both the constants

separately

2B respectively.

related
tions

2 that

then

In

plotted
both

to the speed of carriage

expressed

their

the

the speeds

diagrams,

the

manner

CARRIAGE

in the equation

speeds

a and b varied

in a linear

relationships

with

against

these

LOAD

of carriage.

with

speed.

of carriage
coefficients

and the

The

as shown
were

following

values

of

in Fig-2A

observed

to be

regression

equa-

were S was the speed of carriage (ms-1).

Putting

these

values

As a further check

in

the

general

eqations

the values of E were then

speeds employed,

from the

above equation.

E=a+bL

above,

it

was

found

calculated

for each of the

that

loads and

The observed and calculated values were

seen to be very closely (r=0.98 ; P<0.001) related

Rationalization

of manual

Almost all authorities

should be limited
relatively
may

load carriage
in this field tend to agree

that

sustained

physical

exertion

to 50% of the maximum oxygen uptake of a given subject.

homogenous group of individuals, average

be considered

value of this parameter

For a

therefore

as the reasonable upper limit for continuous work stretching

over

several hours15,17-19). That this assumption is also equally applicable to Indian workers
was demonstrated

by Chakraborty

and Guha Roy20).

50% level of the average value of the maximum

1.015 L min-1 STPD (21.24 KJ min-1).

In the present investigation,

oxygen

uptake

of the workers

the
was

It may be observed from Fig. 1 that for load

151

A. SAMANTA

AND B.B. CHATTERJEE

carriers, the carriage of loads upto 35 Kg at speed upto 1.39 ms-1 and a load of 44 Kg
upto a speed of 1.11 ms-1 were associated with energy expenditures
above level.

The

rest

expenditure

observed

of the load-speed

reached

combinations

upto 87 % of the

uptake value while transporting

exceeded

workers'

average

just short of the

it and the

energy

maximum

oxygen

a load of 44 Kg at a speed of 1.94 ms-1.

It may also

be seen from Fig. 2 that a horizontal line through 21.24 KJ min-1 (50 % of maximum
oxygen uptake) intersects the four straight lines, in order from the lowest one, at points
corresponding
average

to gross loads of 100.8, 81.2, 60.5 and 48.2 Kg respectively.

Taking

the

body weight of the subjects as 47.3 Kg, they should be able to carry loads of

53.5 Kg, 33.9 Kg and 13.2 Kg at speeds of 1.11 ms-1, 1.39 ms-1 and 1.67 ms-1 respectively,
for prolonged periods without cumulative fatigue and that no loads may be transported
at a speed of 1.94 ms-1 except for brief

periods.

When upper limits of external

loads

were similarly calculated individually for each of the load carriers (on the basis of 50 %
of their respective maximum oxygen uptakes) and plotted as in Fig. 3 against
speeds of carriage in ms-1,a

linear relationship

various

between the permissible loads and speeds

of carriage were observed to exist. A regression line was constructed through the points
by the method of least squares. The degree of correlation (r) of the permissible external
loads and the speeds of carriage

Fig.

3.

Calculated

weights

was-0.93 which

of loads

was found

to be carried

of 50% of the maximum working capacity

with speeds of carriage(s).
152

with

to be highly

energy

expentiture

and their relationship

significant

ENERGY

EXPENDITURE

IN MANUAL

LOAD

CARRIAGE

(P<0.001).
The values of the permissible loads obtained in this manner were quite
close to those obtained from the earlier approach described. Fig. 3 could thus be utilized
for structuring
in manual

the work schedules and or training

load carriage

on a permanent

programme

basis.

for workers

employed

If heavier loads are required to be

carried, the speed of carriage may be suitably adjusted with reference to this figure by
extrapolating

the straight line towards the upper left hand corner as represented by the

dotted portion of the line.

non-industrial

Since

occupations,

supervision of occupational

manual load carriage is widespread

in industrial and

the findings of this study may find useful application

in the

health and safety of this group

in the

of labour

at least,

organized sectors of industry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are grateful to the Director, All India Institute of Hygiene and Public
Health, for providing the facilities for carrying out this work.
to Messers A. Chatterjee
experiments

They are also thankful

and P.K. Mukherjee for technical assistance

in conducting the

and analysis of the data.

REFERENCES

1) Goldman,

R.F. (1965).

2) Goldman,

R.F. and Iampietro, P.F. (1962).

3) Datta, S.R., Chatterjee,

Ergonomics,

8, 321.

4) Malhotra,

M.S., Ramaswamy,

5) Malhotra,

M.S., and Sengupta,

J. (1965).
Indian

Ergonomics,

11,

8, 55.

J. Appl. Physiol., 29, 570.

B.B. and Roy, B.N. (1975).

J. Appl. Physiol.,

A and Mallick, L.N. (1968).

38, 132.

Indian

J. Occup. Health,

233.

10) Datta, S.R. and Ramanathan,

11) Ramanathan,
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N.L. (1970). Indian

N.L. and Datta, S.R. (1971).

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Metabolic

Johnson,

Functions

in Man

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Indian J. Med. Res., 59, 145.

R.E. and Pecora,

L.J.

p. 60, McGraw-Hill

(1963).

Book Co.,

Physiological
Inc.,

Measurements

of

New York.

J. Physiol, 109, 1.

14) Martiz, J.S., Morrison, J.F.,

mics,

16, 507.

J. Appl. Physiol., 17, 433.

J. Med. Res., 54, 866.

7) Hughes, A.L. and Goldman, R.F. (1970).

9) Datta, S.R., Roy, B.N., Chatterjee,

17, 675.

Ergonomics,

S.S. and Roy, S.N. (1962).

6) Das, S.K. and Saha, H. (1966).

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J. Appl. Physiol.,

B.B. and Roy, B.N. (1973).

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N.B. and Wyndham,

C.H. (1961).

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4, 97

15) Christensen,

E.H. (1963).

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Physiol.. Rev., 36, 307.

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and Chevalier,

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application

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16) Bobbert, A.C. (1960).

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Arch. Environ.

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153

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19) Wyndham,

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N.B., Williams,

C.G. and Randen, M. Von (1962). Nature,

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20) Chakraborty,
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Sym.

M.K. and Guha Roy, A.R. (1966).

Human

Adaptability

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Aerobic working capacity of Indian miners,

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Malhotra,

M.S.,