SAFE PATIENT HANDLING AND MOVEMENT Table 1. Data Used to Calculate the NIOSH Lifting Index Values for Typical Items Lifted in the OR
• V: vertical height of the lift = vertical location of the hands from the floor. This is measured in centime- ters or inches at the origin and destination of the lift.
• D: vertical displacement during the lift = vertical travel distance in centimeters or inches between the origin and the destination of the lift.
• A: angle of asymmetry = angular displacement of the load from the worker’s sagittal plane. This is measured in degrees at the origin and destination of the lift.
• F: frequency and duration of lifting = average fre- quency rate of lifting measured in lifts per minute.
Duration is defined as follows: short-duration (< 1 hour); moderate-duration (> 1 hour but < 2 hours); or long-duration (> 2 hours but < 8 hours), assuming appropriate recovery allow- ances (Table 2).
• C: quality of the hand-to-object coupling = qual- ity of the interface between the worker and the load being lifted. The quality of the coupling is categorized as good, fair, or poor, depending upon the type and location of the coupling, the physical characteristics of the load, and the ver- tical height of the lift64
