Laboratory Assessment of Vibration Emissions from Vibrating Forks used in Simulated Beach Cleaning

As part of NIOSH's response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, representatives traveled to the gulf coast to observe and assess workers involved in beach cleaning operations, to identify potential hazards and to provide guidance for protecting response workers. One beach cleaning operation involved the use of lightweight, battery-powered, motorized vibrating manure forks to remove tar balls and patties from beach sand. To investigate the vibration exposures associated with these operations, we performed a laboratory study on the vibrations produced by the forks operated during simulated beach cleaning. The objectives of this study were to characterize the vibrations associated with the use of vibrating manure forks and to estimate vibration exposure time limits based on the recommendations of ANSI S2.70-2006.