IMPROVED ERGONOMIC CHISEL WITH HANDLE ADAPTATION

Indeliza Armenta Acosta, Yeniba Argüeso Mendoza, Lizeth Gabriela García Escobedo,
Fidel Alejandro King Félix, Verónica Quintero Márquez.

Industrial Engineer department

M.I.E Enginner and professor,
InstituteTechnológic of Los Mochis
Los Mochis, Sinaloa
indel5@hotmail.com

Abstract: The use of the chisel goes back to the era of the primitive man, who used crude
manual tools built in stone, to the present use by diverse professions like construction,
plumbing, medicine, jewelry, among others. The chisel is only used cold and with help of a
support tool like a hammer or a mallet.

Emphasis has always been placed on the precautions that must be taken when using the
chisel because it’s a tool with a high probability to cause an injury to the hands by impact,
This must be handled with great care, taking care that the support tool (hammer or mallet)
does not slip down the end of the chisel and thus cause the aforementioned injury.For this
reason an improvement of the design of the chisel is proposed by adding a handle with a
rubber cover for its better and safer performance.

KEY WORDS: Ergonomic design, hand tool, risk.

RELEVANCE FOR ERGONOMICS: Manual work tools must be designed to meet both the
needs of the company and those of the person who will perform their task with it.

1. INTRODUCTION

According to the article published by Franco SA, Preciado L, Salazar M, Vázquez JM, in the
Cuban Journal of Health and Work, “ACCIDENTES DE TRABAJO EN MUÑECAS Y MANOS
EN EL ESTADO DE JALISCO, MÉXICO, EN LOS AÑOS 2010, 2011 Y 2012”1, July 10,
2014," Hands are necessary tools for multiple activities of production, recreation, creativity,
fine arts, and they complement us with various supports and assistances for the hygiene and
health of our body.Accidents in hands generate between 40 and 55% of the days of
incapacity that occur in the industrial sector in Latin America ", (Mexico), however, the
prevention techniques give them little relevance due to the widespread idea oflittle
seriousness of the injuries they produce, as well as the influence of the human factor, which
is more difficult to tackle technically.In this sense, it is important to redesign the manual tools.

For this reason, a proposal to improve the design of the conventional chisel is presented in
this document, which consists of adapting a handle perpendicular to the body of the chisel
with a rubber cover to allow the user to have a better grip and handling of the tool,in addition
to drastically reducing the risk of accidents by avoiding exposure of the hand to possible
unforeseen impacts due to the use of this tool in any area where it is used such as plumbing,
construction, mechanics, goldsmithing, among others.

WORK AREA: Design.

1.1 JUSTIFICATION

Based on the article NTP 391: Herramientas manuales: Condiciones generales de seguridad,
notes that annually publishes the work and social security that it can be said that
approximately 9% of the total of work accidents have been produced by the tools, constituting
4% of serious accidents. However, 85% of work accidents with tools have been with the
manuals.

It also points out from an ergonomic point of view manual tools must meet a series of basic
requirements to be effective as: effectively perform the intended function of it, provide user
dimensions, which is appropriate to the strength and endurance of the user and minimize
user fatigue.

For the above, a proposal of an ergonomic chisel prototype with handle adaptation is created,
in addition to adding a type of rubber, which will help the worker to avoid some type of
accident or risk to which he is exposed at the moment of making the impact with any surface
on which you are working.

1.2. GENERAL OBJECTIVE: Design a prototype of improvement for the handling of the
conventional chisel in a way that reduces the risk of an accident and / or injury for the person
who is using this manual tool.

1.2.1. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

• Identify the most functional and comfortable protection model for the use of a chisel.
• Verify and conduct a survey to identify the time of use of this tool.
 • Improve the occupational health of the worker, by improving the conventional chisel
(Protection and ease of handling).

1.3. DELIMITATION: This study is specifically aimed at people working in construction,

carpentry, mechanics, goldsmithing, among others, anyone who uses this type of tool.

2. METHODOLOGY

Due to the study that was developed, the inductive, descriptive and explanatory method was
used since an improvement design for the conventional chisel was proposed, based on the
observation of the use of this tool in plumbing, masonry, mechanics and goldsmithing.

For the creation of the design of the prototype of the improved chisel, it was based on the
qualitative technique, since a survey was carried out to 50 people from the different areas
mentioned, where they were asked a series of questions about this tool, for what from the
results obtained from this survey began with the chisel improvement design. The obtained
data threw us a series of proposals that could be made to the conventional chisel, of which
we took into account to make the new design and translate it into a 3D format.

2.1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS: The user who handles this manual tool usually
holds it with the palm of his hand holding it tightly when doing the action of the hammer or
mallet. This procedure is done as follows:

If what is intended is to cut a piece, the chisel should be placed in a perpendicular position, at
about 90º and provide a dry blow to the head. In this way you will get a cut as clean as
possible. On the other hand, to extract chips, or to decorate a piece, you must place the
chisel in a more angular position where the head is located closer to the surface that will
receive the contact.

Next, the graphs of the survey applied in the present investigation are shown, which had the
objective of obtaining information about the repercussion of the use of the conventional
chisel.
 ¿Do you know the chisel tool?

6%

Yes
94% No

Fig. 1 Results obtained from question 1

Figure 1 shows that, of the 50 people surveyed, 94% have knowledge and use this tool.

Do you consider that it brings you

health problems?

yes
48.0% 52.0%
No

Fig. 2 Results obtained from question 2

Figure 2 shows that of the 50 people surveyed, 52% consider that it brings health problems,
while 48% say the opposite.
 How long do you use it?

14.0% 2.0% 0 to 20 minutes

21 to 40 minutes
24.0% 60.0% 41 to 60 minutes
1 to 2 hours

Fig. 3 Results obtained from question 3

Figure 3 shows that 60% of the surveyed sample indicates that they only use the
conventional chisel from 0 to 20 minutes, while 24% indicate that they use it from 21 to 40
minutes. 14% use it in a period of time between 41 to 60 minutes. And the remaining 2% use
it in periods of 1 to 2 hours.

How often do you use it ?

6.0%
6.0%
8.0% once a week
twice a week
3 times a week
18.0%
62.0%
4 times a week
5 to 6 times a week

Fig. 4 Results obtained from question 4

In Figure 4 shows in terms of frequency of use, the previous graph shows that 62% use it
once a week, this being the highest percentage.
How do you like the handling of the chisel?

In the answers we got, the most significant mentions three main aspects, the first aspect
and the one that had more frequency of mention was about how the design of the chisel is
anti-ergonomic, with a rustic design that when using it can be harmful and presents a certain
degree of considerable risk; the second aspect that, like the first one, stood out over the other
answers, talks about the frequent use of the chisel in the respective works of the interviewees
and the last most significant aspect that we detected were opinions of improvement over the
design of the chisel for its best use and management.

What improvements would you make to the chisel?

About the improvements to implement the two most significant opinions mention that they
would add some kind of handle that provides a better grip of the tool and the second opinion
suggests a rubber surface in the impact area to reduce the intensity of it in the moment of the
hit.

When observing the results we can analyze that the majority is in agreement that the
conventional chisel must be improved by adding a wooden handle for a better grip.

3. RESULTS.

Next, the images of the prototype of the chisel are shown from different perspectives:

Fig. 4 Front view of the chisel

In Figure 5 you can see the design of the prototype of the conventional chisel with a handle
that is made of wood to have a better grip.
 Fig. 5 Front view of the handle

Figure 6 shows the front view of the handle which will be the grip support of the chisel, which
has a length of 20 cm.

Fig. 6 Side view of the handle

Figure 7 shows the side view of how the wooden handle is formed, which has a distance from
the striking end of the chisel to the center of the 6.5 cm wooden handle.

Fig. 7 Rear view of the chisel

In figure 8 you can see the rear view of the chisel that has a length of 31 cm. long.
 INTERNAL GRIP DIAMETER (cm)
7
6
5
4
3 INTERNAL GRIP DIAMETER (cm)
2
1
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37

Fig. 9 Grip diameter

Figure 9 shows the graph of the data collected from the different diameters in 37 people
based on a 5th percentile, where we found that the diameter of 1.96 inches is the most
suitable for the grip of the improved chisel prototype.

Fig. 10 Conventional chisel

In Figure 10 shows how is the grip of the conventional chisel at the time of use for work, we
can see that the user grabs it in a way that the hand is at a distance of 2.75 inches from the
head of the chisel.
 Fig. 11 improved chisel handling Fig. 12 improved
chisel handling

In figures 11 and 12 the user is making use of the improved chisel which we add a handle
that is adapted for a better grip of the conventional chisel. The users gave their own comment
saying that they feel more comfortable and safe to use this type of tool already improved
since they mention that the conventional chisel has its faults when not having security when
using it.

For the design of the handle we took the criteria of the book “Herramientas Manuales:
Criterios Ergonómicos y de Seguridad para su selección” of the National Institute of Safety
and Hygiene in the workplace of Spain, which indicates that a force grip needs a handle with
a diameter of 1.25-2.007 inches and a length of 3.93-5.90 inches. In addition to considering
the 5th percentile according to the anthropometric measurements of the majority of users.

4. CONCLUSIONS

With the results obtained we provide the design of a tool that helped to protect the safety of
the worker avoiding wounds, injuries caused by painful blows, which will be of great help to
have better handling of the tool when using it at work, therefore has innovated in a tool that
helps to carry out such work safely. It is considered that it will be very supportive for the
plumber, mechanical sector, etc. In addition to reiterating that the objectives set at the
beginning of the investigation were met, since the appropriate design was found so that any
worker could use this design of the chisel based on the analyzed accounts and therefore the
physical integrity of the worker was improved when handling of better form the new design of
the chisel in comparison of the conventional one.
 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

(INSHT), I. N. (2016). Herramientas manuales: criterios ergonomicos y de seguridad para su

seleccion . Madrid: Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el trabajo (INSHT).

Franco SA, P. L. (2014). Accidentes de trabajo en muñecas y manos en el estado de Jalisco,

México en los años 2010, 2011 y 2012. Revista Cubana de salud y Trabajo, 9.

Mariño, A. C. (2018). Programa de seguridad y salud ocupacional para prevenir accidentes

laborales en indutrias el cisce-2015. Consciencia, 179.

Pino, J. T. (1993). Herramientas manuales: Condiciones generales de seguridad. México:

Atalanta.

Villalobos, J. (2015). Propuesta de un programa de prevención de accidentes por riesgos

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