International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ergon

Investigation of hand postures in manufacturing industries according

to hand and object properties
Kyung-Sun Lee a, b, Myung-Chul Jung a, *
a
b

Department of Industrial Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, Republic of Korea

Instrumentation & Control/Human Factors Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 17 February 2014
Received in revised form
1 December 2014
Accepted 17 January 2015
Available online 4 February 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the hand postures commonly used in manufacturing companies,
according to the use of either the right or left hand and the object properties. Operations taking place
over 1636 s were reviewed to record hand postures, right and left hands, object shapes, object locations,
and object directions and to classify them according to a hand posture classication system developed in
this study. The classication system considers R (resting), G (grasping), P (pinching), and T (touching),
which are further subdivided based on the number and use of ngers-(T) thumb, (I) index, (M) middle,
(R) ring, or (L) little-and palm (P). The hand postures classied as 5G (TIMRL), 3P (TIM), 5P (TIMRL), 2P
(TI), and 4G (TMRL) were the most commonly used postures; however, their frequencies of use depended
on whether the right or left hand was used and the object properties. The most commonly handled
object shapes were cylinders, rectangles, and sheets, and the most common location for objects of these
shapes was on a table. The use of hand postures depends on the type of activity. Unlike activities of daily
living, which often require pinching an object, grasping is more often used in the manufacturing industry
to manipulate hand tools and parts with force. The results of this study are anticipated to be useful in
designing future research studies on hand postures.
Relevance to industry: The investigation of commonly used hand postures is of special interest in ergonomics because of its association with musculoskeletal disorders of the hand. Information on commonly
used hand posture can be used in designing future hand posture research studies to estimate and reduce
hand stresses.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Common hand posture
Object property
Grasping
Pinching
Video analysis

1. Introduction
The hand has a complex structure of bones and muscles that
allows humans to perform various functions (Taylor and Schwarz,
1955). Hand functions facilitate diverse activities: manipulating
devices, picking up objects, playing musical instruments, pointing,
climbing, drawing, etc. Many researchers are attempting to understand how humans utilize their hands (Kyota and Saito, 2012).
Research on hand functions is mainly conducted from the perspectives of biomechanics, hand clinics, and rehabilitation. Hand
functions are also important in occupational safety, humanoid robots, animation, and ergonomics.
Grasping and pinching are common postures investigated in
hand functions (Slocum and Pratt, 1946). McBride (1942) rst

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 82 31 219 2981; fax: 82 31 219 1610.

E-mail addresses: lks79s@ajou.ac.kr (K.-S. Lee), mcjung@ajou.ac.kr (M.-C. Jung).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2015.01.001
0169-8141/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

classied hand postures based on the parts of the hand used:

grasping with the entire hand, grasping with the thumb and ngers, or grasping with the palm and ngers. Grifths (1943) used
object shapes as a reference to categorize hand postures into cylindrical, ball, ring, pincer, and pliers grasps. Napier (1956) suggested power and precision grasps based on the anatomical and
physiological aspects of the hand. He dened the power grasp as
holding an object with the thumb, ngers, and palm, whereas he
dened a precision grasp as holding and manipulating an object
with the tips of the thumb and ngers. Kamakura et al. (1980)
identied four categories of 14 specic hand gestures by examining the nger locations and contact areas used to hold 98 objects
used in occupations, sports, and the arts. The four categories
identied were the power grip, intermediate grip, precision grip,
and grip involving no thumb. Armstrong et al. (1982) proposed six
hand postures dened by the hand shape and contact area between
the hand and object, based on observations at a poultry processing
plant. The six hand postures proposed were the pulp grasp, medial

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

grasp, pulp pinch, lateral pinch, palm pinch, and nger press.
Hwang et al. (2010) and Wang et al. (2012) identied 14 different
hand postures for touching, wrapping, and pinching based on palm
use and the number of ngers used to evaluate farm work.
The frequency of hand posture use is also considered as a criterion for hand posture classication of activities of daily living
(ADL). Sperling and Jacobson-Sollerman (1977) analyzed the frequency of several grasps used during serving, eating, and drinking.
They found that grasping with the ngers (nger grasp) accounted
for 37% of hand postures, grasping with the web of the thumb in
contact with an object being held (web-of-thumb grasp) accounted for 33%, and grasping with the palm in contact with an object
(volar grasp) accounted for 30%. Sollerman and Sperling (1978)
investigated ADL and identied the hand postures most often
used in terms of percentages: 33% for volar grasp, 20% for pulp
pinch, 20% for lateral pinch, 15% for ve-nger pinch, 10% for
tripod pinch, and 2% for extension grasp. Sollerman and Ejeskar
(1995) reported that the percentages of common hand postures
in ADL were 25% for power grasp, 20% for lateral grasp, 20% for tip
grasp, 10% for spherical grasp, 10% for tripod grasp, and 10% for
extension grasp. Zheng et al. (2011) found six postures that
accounted for approximately 80% of the working time in daily
household tasks: medium wrap (27%), index nger extension
(17%), power sphere (13%), lateral pinch (12%), precision disc (7%),
and thumbeindex nger (4%). Vergara et al. (2014) observed the
following frequencies for grasp types: 38.3% for pinch, 12.7% for
non-prehensile grasp, 12.3% for cylindrical grasp, 9.7% for lumbrical grasp, and 8.8% for lateral pinch. Kilbreath and Heard (2005)
studied the frequencies of hand grasp types of healthy older persons. They observed no signicant differences between the frequency of use of a pinch grip to manipulate objects and the
frequencies of use of a power grasp or the most commonly used
digital grasp or whole hand grasp. Recently, Lee and Jung (2014)
investigated common voluntary hand postures according to object properties. They found that seven hand postures were
grasping with the thumb and four ngers, grasping with four
ngers, grasping with three ngers, pinching with the thumb and
four ngers, pinching with four ngers, pinching with three ngers and pinching with two ngers.
In addition to the aforementioned criteria for hand posture
classication, hand postures can be affected by object location
(Schot et al., 2010), object direction (Cuijpers et al., 2004), object
size (Wong and Whishaw, 2004), and task (Light et al., 2002).
Schot et al. (2010) found that the front and back sides of a sphere
are pinched with the thumb and index nger when the sphere is
located on the left side of a subject but the left and right sides of a
sphere are pinched when the sphere is located on the right side of
a subject. Wong and Whishaw (2004) showed that pinching an
object with the thumb and index nger is a common hand
posture, but its use decreases with large object sizes. Light et al.
(2002) classied natural grasps used for various actions as a tip
grasp for picking up coins, a power grasp for moving a jar, a
spherical grasp for removing a lid, an extension grasp for turning a
page, a lateral grasp for pouring water, and a tripod grasp for
cutting food.
The previous studies mentioned focused mainly on ADL and
utilized predened hand posture classications, without a thorough investigation of which ngers were involved in objectehand
coupling. Furthermore, there is little information available on
common hand postures used with various object properties (shape,
location, and direction) in manufacturing industries. Based on these
concerns, this study was conducted to investigate hand postures
commonly used in 12 manufacturing industries and to develop a
hand posture classication system for identifying the involvement
of specic ngers in objectehand coupling.

99

2. Methods
2.1. Manufacturing tasks
Twelve manufacturing companies were visited to lm workers'
hand postures and object properties with a digital camcorder
(Table 1). One of the companies performs automobile repair,
another is an iron foundry, and the remaining ten manufacture air
conditioners, automobiles, automobile panels, compact discs,
electric irons, liquid crystal display (LCD) frames, light-emitting
diode (LED) panels, light xtures, plastic lms, and refrigerators.
The work carried out at these companies involves 17 operations:
assembling, cleaning, fastening, gluing, inspecting, labeling,
liquating, loading, marking, moving, packing, painting, setting,
Table 1
Twelve manufacturing companies and operations.
No.

Company

Operation

Figure

No. of
frames

Air conditioner

Assembling, painting,
storage

88

Automobile

Assembling, fastening

186

Automobile
panel

Assembling, gluing,
painting

76

Automobile
repair

Assembling, painting,
setting

69

Compact disc

Labeling, packing, sorting

42

Electric iron

Assembling, fastening,
inspection, labeling,
welding

Iron foundry

Liquating, packing,
painting, tamping

79

LCD frame

Assembling

27

LED panel

Assembling,
fastening

151

10

Light xture

Assembling, marking

323

11

Plastic lm

Loading, packing

12

Refrigerator

Assembling, moving,
welding

367

61

167

100

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

sorting, storing, tamping, and welding. The video clips were edited
to capture one working cycle of each operation, and a total of 1636 s
of footage was obtained for the operations. The specic nature of
each of the operations is presented in Table 2.
2.2. Variable denitions
2.2.1. Hand postures
The hand posture classications of Hwang et al. (2010) and
Wang et al. (2012) were further modied to identify the involvement of specic ngers in objectehand coupling (Table 3). The
hand postures were classied as resting, grasping pinching,
and touching. Resting was dened as the posture in which the
ngers and palm neither perform any activity nor touch any object.
Grasping was dened as the posture in which the ngers are
wrapped around an object, i.e., touching with the palm. Pinching
was dened as the posture in which the ngers squeeze the
opposite sides of an object without the palm touching the object.
Touching was dened as the posture in which the ngers or palm
make contact with the surface or one side of an object. Grasping
was further classied according to the number of ngers involved
in objectehand coupling: grasping with one nger (1G), two ngers (2G), three ngers (3G), four ngers (4G), or ve ngers (5G).
For analysis of the specic ngers involved in objectehand
coupling, the initials of the ngers were noted in parentheses after
Table 2
Specic nature of operations.
No.

Company

Operation

Nature

Air
conditioner

Assembling

Assembling parts with an electric

screwdriver
Painting parts with a spray gun
Storing parts with a lift
Assembling parts with a screwdriver
Fastening parts with an electric
screwdriver
Assembling parts with bolts
Gluing stickers onto parts
Painting parts with a brush
Assembling tires
Cleaning rims with an air spray gun
Setting rims with chain and a hook
Labeling parts with a label reader
Packing parts or compressors
Sorting parts with a pair of tweezers
Assembling parts and cables with an
electric screwdriver
Fastening parts with an electric
screwdriver
Inspecting parts with a water jet
Attaching stickers to parts
Welding parts with a welding machine
Liquating parts with a broom, a dustpan,
or an iron rod
Packing parts
Painting parts with a spray gun
Tamping parts with a machine
Assembling parts and frames with
a screwdriver
Assembling parts
Fastening parts with a screwdriver
Assembling parts with an electric
screwdriver
Marking parts with a pen
Loading boxes with a hoist
Packing parts with wrapping papers
and boxes
Assembling parts with an electric
screwdriver
Moving parts
Welding parts with a welding machine

Automobile

Automobile
panel

Automobile
repair

Compact disc

Electric iron

Painting
Storage
Assembling
Fastening
Assembling
Gluing
Painting
Assembling
Cleaning
Setting
Labeling
Packing
Sorting
Assembling
Fastening

Iron foundry

Inspection
Labeling
Welding
Liquating

LCD frame

Packing
Painting
Tamping
Assembling

LED panel

10

Light xture

11

Plastic lm

Marking
Loading
Packing

12

Refrigerator

Assembling

Assembling
Fastening
Assembling

Moving
Welding

Table 3
Hand posture classication (R: Resting, G: Grasping, P: Pinching, T: Touching, (T):
Thumb, (I): Index nger, (M): Middle nger, (R): Ring nger, (L): Little nger, and (P):
Palm).
Classication

Notation

Resting
Grasping

R
1G
2G
3G
4G
5G
2P
3P
4P
5P
1T
2T
3T
4T
5T

Pinching

Touching

(T) (I) (M) (R) (L)

(TI) (TM) (TR) (TL) (IM) (IR) (IL) (MR) (ML) (RL)
(TIM) (TIR) (TIL) (TMR) (TML) (TRL) (IMR) (IRL) (MRL)
(TIMR) (TIRL) (TMRL) (IMRL)
(TIMRL)
(TI) (TM) (TR) (TL) (IM) (IR) (IL) (MR) (ML) (RL)
(TIM) (TIR) (TIL) (TMR) (TML) (TRL) (IMR) (IRL) (MRL)
(TIMR) (TIRL) (TMRL) (IMRL)
(TIMRL)
(T) (I) (M) (R) (L)
(TI) (TM) (TR) (TL) (IM) (IR) (IL) (MR) (ML) (RL)
(TIM) (TIR) (TIL) (TMR) (TML) (TRL) (IMR) (IRL) (MRL)
(TIMR) (TIRL) (TMRL) (IMRL)
(TIMRL) (TIMRLP)

the grasp types. For example, 1G (T) means that only the thumb was
used to grasp an object, and 2G (TI) means that both the thumb and
index nger were used to grasp an object. In a similar manner,
pinching was classied as pinching with two ngers (2P), three
ngers (3P), four ngers (4P), or ve ngers (5P). Touching was
classied as touching with one nger (1T), two ngers (2T), three
ngers (3T), four ngers (4T), or ve ngers (5T). For example, 5T
(TIMRL) means that an object was touched with all ve ngers,
whereas 5T (TIMRLP) means that an object was touched with all
ve ngers and the palm. In total, 84 types of hand postures were
used to analyze the manufacturing operations.
2.2.2. Object properties
Object properties were investigated according to their shape,
location, and direction. Object shapes were classied as follows:
ball, cylinder, disc, hemisphere, hexagon, hook, rectangle, sheet,
two handles, or triangle. Object locations were classied into three
categories: under a table, on a table, or above a table. An
object under a table was dened as being either under a table when
an operator was sitting or below the operator's waist when the
operator was standing during the hand operation. An object on a
table was dened as being either on a table when the operator was
sitting or between the waist and shoulders of the operator when
the operator was standing during the hand operation. An object
above a table was dened as being either above a table when the
operator was sitting or above the operator's shoulders when the
operator was standing during the hand operation. The object direction also had three categories: lefteright, fronteback, and
upedown. The lefteright direction implies that an object lies
parallel to the frontal plane. The fronteback direction implies that
an object lies parallel to the sagittal plane. The upedown direction
implies that an object stands vertically (Fig. 1). Objects classied as
discs or spheres were considered to be oriented in the lefteright
direction.
2.3. Analyses
The video of the hand postures and object properties was
analyzed in a laboratory by two skilled observers who participated
in the development of the hand posture and object property classication system. The hand postures were analyzed by an observer
(the rst author), and then, they were analyzed again by another
observer (the second author) for the purpose of validation. The bias
between the observers was assessed using Keyserling's evaluation
method (Keyserling, 1986). The analysis of hand postures and object properties involved the observers playing and stopping the

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

101

Fig. 1. Illustration of object directions.

video to record working durations and postures whenever operators changed their hand postures. The hand postures and object
properties were recorded for the left and right hands at one frame
per second, using the notations listed in Table 2 for hand postures
and in Section 2.2.2 on object properties. Thus, the observer
reviewed a total of 1636 frames. The usages of hand postures and
object properties were expressed as percentages of the total
number of frames. Only hand postures and object properties with
usages of more than 2% were recorded in the study.
3. Results
3.1. Overall hand postures
Table 4 lists the common hand postures used in the
manufacturing companies. The 5G (TIMRL) hand posture was the
most commonly used by the left (28.2%) and right (45.8%) hands.
Both hands generally used this posture to grasp and hold objects
and tools. In addition, the left hand commonly used 5P (TIMRL), 3P
(TIM), 2P (TI), and 5T (TIMRLP). Among the postures, the left hand
frequently used 5P (TIMRL) and 3P (TIM) to pinch relatively large
and small objects, respectively. The right hand commonly used 3P
(TIM), 4G (TMRL), 5P (TIMRL), 2P (TI), and 3G (TIM), in the
descending order of frequency. The right hand used 3P (TIM) and
4G (TMRL) more than the other postures to hold small objects and
to hold power tools with a trigger, respectively. Overall, the left
hand used pinching the most, with pinching accounting for 43.3% of
the postures (17.5% 3P (TIM) 20.2% 5P (TIMRL) 5.6% 2P (TI)),
whereas the right hand used grasping the most, with grasping
accounting for 59.6% of the postures (45.8% 5G (TIMRL) 11.0% 4G
(TMRL) 2.8% 3G (TIM)).

direction. The left hand handled more objects in the fronteback

direction (31.6%) than in the upedown direction (15.7%). For the
right hand, similar percentages of objects lay in the lefteright
(24.6%) and fronteback (29.3%) directions.
3.3. Hand postures by object shapes
Table 6 lists hand postures commonly used with three common
object shapes: cylinders, rectangles, and sheets. Both hands often
held cylindrical objects using the hand postures 5G (TIMRL), 3P
(TIM), 5P (TIMRL), and 2P (TI). The left hand additionally used 4P
(TIMR), and the right hand additionally used 3G (TIM) and 4G
(TMRL). The left hand used 3P (TIM) most often (42.0%), whereas
Table 4
Hand postures used in 12 manufacturing companies.
Hand posture

Left hand (%)

Right hand (%)

5G (TIMRL)

28.2

45.8

3P (TIM)

17.5

13.6

5P (TIMRL)

20.2

8.7

5.6

7.8

2P (TI)

3.2. Object properties

4G (TMRL)

The most common shape of objects held with either hand was
the cylinder (Table 5): it accounted for 48.1% of the objects held by
the left hand and 68.7% of those held by the right hand. Other than
the cylinder, the most common object shapes were the rectangle,
sheet, disc, and hand tools with two handles. The left hand often
held thin objects such as sheets (23.7%), whereas the right hand
often held rectangular objects or hand tools (16.3%).
Approximately 91% of objects handled with either hand by the
manufacturing companies' workers were located on a table.
Although objects located under a table made up less than 6% of the
total number of objects, they account for a slightly greater percentage of objects than those above a table.
Depending on the position of the worker, 52.7% of objects
handled by the left hand lay in the lefteright direction, whereas
46.1% of objects handled by the right hand stood in the upedown

11.0

5T (TIMRLP)

3.3

3G (TIM)

Others
Total

25.2
100.0

2.8

10.3
100.0

Example

102

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

Table 5
Properties of objects used in 12 manufacturing companies.
Object property
Shape

Cylinder

Left
hand (%)
48.1

Right
hand (%)

19.6

16.3

Sheet

23.7

9.0

3.7

Example

Hand
posture

Cylinder
Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

5G (TIMRL)
3P (TIM)
5P (TIMRL)
2P (TI)
4P (TIMR)
3G (TIM)
4G (TMRL)
5T (TIMRLP)
3T (TIM)
3G (TRL)
5T (TIMRL)
Others
Total

25.8
42.0
15.1
9.4
3.4
e
e
e
e
e
e
4.3
100.0

49.6
17.9
3.6
10.0
e
2.9
13.1
e
e
e
e
2.9
100.0

59.8
2.6
28.9
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
8.7
100.0

58.9
2.0
11.4
e
e
e
18.8
e
e
2.0
e
6.9
100.0

10.3
9.1
43.1
10.7
e
3.6
e
18.2
3.6
e
e
1.4
100.0

13.1
11.5
27.0
10.7
e
5.7
e
18.9
5.7
e
4.1
3.3
100.0

68.7

Rectangle

Disc

Table 6
Hand postures by object shape.
Rectangle

Sheet

Table 7
Hand postures by object location.
Two handles

Location

Others
Total
On a table

2.3

2.6
100.0
91.6

6.0
100.0
91.2

Under a table

4.6

5.6

Above a table

3.8

3.2

Hand
posture

On a table

Under a table

Above a table

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

5G (TIMRL)
5P (TIMRL)
3P (TIM)
2P (TI)
3G (TIM)
4G (TMRL)
4P (TIMR)
5T (TIMRL)
Others
Total

30.4
26.3
22.6
7.2
e
e
2.1
e
11.4
100.0

44.6
9.8
14.9
8.7
3.2
12.5
e
e
6.3
100.0

77.8
13.0
e
e
e
e
e
e
9.2
100.0

83.1
e
5.2
3.9
e
e
e
e
7.8
100.0

60.0
4.4
26.7
6.7
e
e
e
2.2
0.0
100.0

88.6
4.5
2.3
e
e
4.5
e
e
0.1
100.0

(TIMRLP) posture was the second most common posture used by

the left (18.2%) and right (18.9%) hands to handle a sheet.

Direction

Total
Lefteright

100.0
52.7

100.0
24.6

Upedown

15.7

46.1

Fronteback

31.6

29.3

100.0

100.0

Total

the right hand used 5G (TIMRL) most often (49.6%), unlike the
overall postures listed in Table 4.
The postures most often used by each hand for rectangular
objects were similar to those that most often used overall for both
hands, as indicated in Table 4. The left (59.8%) and right (58.9%)
hands often held rectangular objects using 5G (TIMRL). The next
most frequently used postures were 5P (TIMRL) (28.9%) for the left
hand and 4G (TMRL) (18.8%) for the right hand.
For thin objects, such as sheets, both hands used various postures: 5G (TIMRL), 3P (TIM), 5P (TIMRL), 2P (TI), 3G (TIM), 5T
(TIMRLP), and 3T (TIM). The 5P (TIMRL) posture was the most
common posture for the left (43.1%) and right (27.0%) hands. The 5T

3.4. Hand postures by object locations

The hand postures used to manipulate objects located on a table
were more varied than those used to manipulate objects located
under or above a table because most of the objects were located on
a table, and therefore, a wider variety of operations were performed
with those objects (Table 7). Both hands used 5G (TIMRL), 5P
(TIMRL), 3P (TIM), 2P (TI), 3G (TIM), 4G (TMRL), and 4P (TIMR). The
left hand often used 5G (TIMRL) (30.4%), 5P (TIMRL) (26.3%), and 3P
(TIM) (22.6%), whereas the right hand frequently used 5G (TIMRL)
(44.6%), 3P (TIM) (14.9%), and 4G (TMRL) (12.5%).
The hands only used 5G (TIMRL), 5P (TIMRL), 3P (TIM), and 2P
(TI) for objects located under a table. The 5G (TIMRL) posture was
the posture most commonly used by the left (77.8%) and right
(83.1%) hands for objects located under a table, as this posture facilitates grasping or lifting of objects.
The hand postures used for objects above a table were similar to
those used for objects under a table. The left (60.0%) and right
(88.6%) hands often used 5G (TIMRL) to grasp power hand tools and
hoists. The left hand also frequently used 3P (TIM) (26.7%) to lower
small objects such as nuts, bolts, and small components.
3.5. Hand postures by object direction
The most common hand posture was 5G (TIMRL) for all object
directions except lefteright and upedown directions for the left
hand, for which 5P (TIMRL) was the most common hand posture. In

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

the fronteback direction, the right hand also used 4G (TMRL)

considerably (Table 8).
Interestingly, the objects oriented in the lefteright direction
were also commonly pinched with 2P (TI) by the right hand (18.2%),
whereas those in the upedown direction were also commonly
pinched with 3P (TIM) by the left (22.4%) and right (23.3%) hands.
Along with the most common hand posture of 5G (TIMRL), the
objects in the fronteback direction were also commonly pinched
with 3P (TIM) by the left hand (25.1%) but grasped with 4G (TMRL)
by the right hand (37.2%).
4. Discussion
In this study, hand posture classication was used to examine
hand postures and object properties commonly used by workers in
12 manufacturing companies. Overall, the most prevalent posture
used by both hands was 5G (TIMRL), which is similar to a power
grasp. This posture was used to manipulate objects and hand tools
with force and accounted for approximately 37% of all posture usage on average. This posture is also commonly used in dairy and
poultry farms, accounting for approximately 70% and 64%, respectively, of the postures observed in those settings (Hwang et al.,
2010; Wang et al., 2012). Although the pinching posture made up
approximately 30% of the total usage in the manufacturing companies, it is a more common hand posture for the activities of daily
living (ADL), accounting for approximately 60% (Sperling and
Jacobson-Sollerman, 1977; Sollerman and Sperling, 1978; Sollerman and Ejeskar, 1995; Zheng et al., 2011). Thus, the hand postures
most commonly used in different settings depend on the different
activities performed in those settings and the objects or hand tools
manipulated.
Other than 5G (TIMRL), the manufacturing operations observed
often required pinching posturesd3P (TIM), similar to a three-jaw
pinch; 5P (TIMRL), with all ve ngers; and 2P (TI), with only the
thumb and index ngerdto handle objects, as well as the 4G
(TMRL) grasping posture, without the index nger, to hold power
tools that have triggers. These four postures accounted for 15.6%,
14.5%, 6.7%, and 5.5%, respectively, of the postures used and were
related to the operations of assembling, inspection, labeling,
marking, painting, and sorting, which require less forceful manipulation than other postures.
The left and right hands showed somewhat different patterns of
hand posture use. The left hand generally used pinching (approximately 43%) more than grasping (approximately 28%) to pick up or
hold relatively small objects; whereas the right hand used grasping
(approximately 60%) more than pinching (approximately 30%) to
Table 8
Hand postures by object direction.
Hand
posture

LefteRight

UpeDown

FronteBack

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

Left
hand (%)

Right
hand (%)

5G (TIMRL)
5P (TIMRL)
2P (TI)
3P (TIM)
3G (TIM)
3T (TIM)
5T (TIMRLP)
2G (TI)
4G (TMRL)
4P (TIMR)
2P (TM)
4G (IMRL)
Others
Total

30.8
31.2
6.4
9.5
2.3
e
8.9
e
e
3.9
e
e
7.0
100.0

25.3
23.6
18.2
9.8
4.1
2.4
6.1
2.0
e
e
e
e
8.5
100.0

28.3
30.3
8.6
22.4
e
e
e
e
e
2.0
3.9
3.3
1.2
100.0

51.4
4.3
9.7
23.3
4.7
e
e
e
4.8
e
e
e
1.8
100.0

40.7
19.5
8.5
25.1
2.0
3.3
e
e
e
e
e
e
0.9
100.0

57.2
4.2
e
e
e
e
e
e
37.2
e
e
e
1.4
100.0

103

carry out activities requiring force, such as hammering, drilling, and

holding hand tools.
Wimmer (2011) reported that object properties are important
factors in hand posture selection. In this study, approximately 93%
of the objects handled were cylinders, rectangles, or sheets. Cylinders were the most commonly handled objects, accounting for
58% of all object shapes. Workers typically performed tasks with
hand tools having cylindrical handles, such as electric drills, hammers, screwdrivers, and spray guns, for assembling, fastening, and
setting. The hand posture may be determined by the object shape
based on the contact areas (Mackenzie and Iberall, 1994). The 5G
(TIMRL) posture was most often used for cylinders and rectangles
because most of the hand tools used were cylindrical and rectangular. Unlike 3P (TIM), which was most often used for cylinders, 5P
(TIMRL) was more frequently used for rectangles, with the four
sides being pinched by the tips of the ngers. Sheet were also often
pinched using the 5P (TIMRL) posture because they were difcult to
grasp. The 5T (TIMRLP) posture was occasionally observed to be
used to fold or push down a sheet.
Because approximately 91% of the objects and hand tools
handled were placed on a table and most tasks were performed
with them during the manufacturing operations observed, a wider
variety of hand postures were required for them than for objects
under or above a table. Similar to the overall hand posture usage
observed, for objects on a table, the left hand often used pinching
postures, whereas the right hand often used grasping postures.
More than 60% of the hand postures used for objects under or above
a table were 5G (TIMRL), which is a posture that facilitates lifting
and lowering of objects during assembling, inspection, and setting.
In addition, objects above a table were also often picked up with the
left hand for assembling using the three-jaw pinching posture 3P
(TIM).
Although the objects handled were evenly distributed in the
three directions, the left hand was more often used to handle bolts,
nuts, and small parts in the lefteright direction, whereas the right
hand was more often used to handle power hand tools and spray
guns in the upedown direction. Overall, the hand postures 5G
(TIMRL) and 5P (TIMRL) were commonly used in all three object
directions. The left hand, however, often used the additional hand
posture 3P (TIM), and the right hand often used hand postures 2P
(TI) and 4G (TMRL) for objects in the upedown and fronteback
directions.
5. Conclusions
The results of this study show that ve hand postures are
commonly used in manufacturing companies: 5G (TIMRL), 3P
(TIM), 5P (TIMRL), 2P (TI), and 4G (TMRL). The frequencies of use of
these postures depended on whether the right or left hand was
used and on the object properties associated with specic activities.
These results provide useful basic information for future hand
posture research. This study was limited, however, in that object
sizes, object weights, hand sizes, operation speed, and number of
repetitions were not considered in an examination of the physical
loads associated with the hand biomechanics involved in the
manufacturing operations observed. Another limitation would be
that hand postures were analyzed by only two observers. Thus,
further research can be considered by using more observers for
valid and reliable results.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation
of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.
2012R1A2A2A01005574).

104

K.-S. Lee, M.-C. Jung / International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 46 (2015) 98e104

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