Shock and impact levels on North American locomotives

While whole body vibration (WBV) levels on North American locomotives are low, it has been suggested that isolated shocks and impacts in the overall vibration environment may pose greater health risks for crew members. In this paper, the shock and impacts measured on locomotives are evaluated through the vibration dose value (VDV) and spinal stress methods given in international standard ISO2631. More than 90 h of measurement data are used in this analysis.This analysis found that shock and impact present a low probability of adverse health effects. For this data, the health guidance provided in ISO2631 for the VDV is more stringent than the health guidance for the spinal stress. The effects of occupant motion and other data artifacts are also discussed.