An ergonomic assessment of the airline baggage handler

43The heights, angles, and velocities that scored most favorably amongst baggagehandlers were the heights of 55 to 75 cm, the conveyor angles of 20 and 30 degrees, andthe velocities of 0.35 and 0.48 m/s as shown in Table 3.13.The quality of baggage handling (sorting errors) was not significantly affected (p> 0.05) by the changes in heights of the mock-up conveyor. The changes in speed,however, did show a significant effect in the number of sorting errors that occurred withbaggage with the velocity of 0.60 m/s yielding the highest amount of errors (p < 0.05).The results also showed that the quality of baggage handling was most affected by theangle of 30 degrees, which produced the greatest increase (p < 0.05) in the number ofdropped bags from the conveyor.3.4.2 Author's Views and Comments on the Posture and Conveyor Belt DesignThis study on baggage handlers' postures and conveyor belt design was very impressive.Having multiple criteria for the various heights, speeds and angles that a baggageconveyor belt could perform were practical. This is the only experimental study that usedexperienced baggage handlers to obtain objective data relevant to conveyor design.Furthermore, this study strongly supported the necessity of keeping free space underneaththe baggage conveyor belt for balance and support of feet.One limitation of this study was that it only used a population pool of maleworkers. Since many women work in the capacity of baggage handling at the variousairports throughout the world, this study excludes a relatively significant population.A survey about the condition and type of baggage conveyor belt system used bybaggage handlers was given in the beginning of the study and a follow up survey wasgiven to the handlers to identify any learning curves. The author feels that this is an