HUMAN-BODY VIBRATION EXPOSURE EXPERIENCED BY TRAM DRIVERS - AN EVALUATION ACCORDING TO ISO STANDARDS & EUROPEAN DIRECTIVES

Drivers of public transportation vehicles are exposed to whole-body vibrations and shocks during their work. The long-term vibration exposure has adverse effects on the human health. The most widely accepted international standard for the measurement and the evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibrations and the subsequent prediction of health risks is the ISO 2631-1:1997. On 2004 the International Organization for Standardization introduced ISO 26315:2004, which a new standard for the evaluation of human exposure to vibrations that contains multiple shocks. The predicted health risks, associated with the operation of tram, based on the ISO 2631-1:1997 criteria are limited and have not yet been determined according to ISO 26315:2004 criteria. In this framework, an analysis of the tram driver body vibrations has been performed for 'Athens Tram' at different test journeys with various morphology and transport network characteristics (uphill, downhill, traffic light). The vibrations of the tram driver cabin were measured at 3 different positions: at the traction brake controller, at the seat and at the floor. In this paper, the health effects based on the standards ISO 5349:2001, ISO 2631-1:1997 and ISO 2631-5:2004 for both whole-body and hand-arm vibrations are reported and compared.