NIOSHTIC-2 Publications Search

Final report. Dexterity of females in cold environments.

Riley MW

University of Nebraska, Lincoln Nebraska, 1982 Jan; :1-271

00133823

Manual dexterity in cold environments was investigated in 30 female subjects. Physical profiles were recorded. Subjects were trained at dexterity tasks. The series of performance measures was performed twice at temperatures of 35, 55, and 75 degrees-F. Results were compared with tests given to a comparable group of 30 males. A significant reduction in dexterity performance occurred in both males and females at 35 degrees in nine performance measures. In eight of the measures there was no decrement in performance between 75 and 55 degrees. Average decrease in dexterity at 35 degrees was between 3 and 16 percent from the same performance at 55 or 75 degrees. Greater decrements occurred with assembly type tasks than with discrete performance tasks. With exposed bare hands, decrements occurred after about 15 minutes of exposure to 35 degrees temperatures. There were significant differences between males and females in the performance of five of the tasks; no differences were seen in four manual dexterity tasks. Age and menstrual cycle affected performance of some fine manipulative tasks. Finger skin temperatures at 55 degrees were 1 to 1.5 degrees-C higher for males than for females, and at 35 degrees, the difference was 0.2 degrees- C.

NIOSH-Grant; Safety-research; Medical-monitoring; Employee-exposure; Exposure-levels; Physiological-measurements; Muscular-disorders; Sex-factors

19820101

Final Grant Report

47771

Grant

1982

PB84-240712

A13

Grant-Number-R01-OH-01029

OEP

University of Nebraska, Lincoln Nebraska

NE

Industrial & Mgmt Systems Engr University of Nebraska 175 Nebraska Hall Lincoln, Nebr 68588