Hand Dimensions of Hispanic and Other Ethnic Group Meat Processing Workers

摘要

This paper reports a pilot study of hand dimensions of 147 male and 103 female meat processing workers measured at a pork processing plant in the United States, with an emphasis on the Hispanic subsample in the study population. Thirteen hand dimensions out of the 26 anthropometric dimensions measured in this study are presented besides weight and stature. Comparisons are made between the Hispanic meat processing worker data and the U.S. Hispanic military data as well as between different racial/ethnic groups in the meat processing sample. The Hispanic meat processing workers are different from the Hispanic personnel in the military survey in hand dimensions, with some dimensions bigger and other dimensions smaller. A comparison of the male Hispanic and African American/Sudanese subsamples in the meat processor sample show that the two subgroups are similar in weight and stature, but the male Hispanic subgroup is smaller in most hand dimensions than the male African American/Sudanese subsample. The female Hispanic subsample is smaller in weight, stature, finger length and most hand size dimensions than the female African American/Sudanese subsample, except the finger circumference dimensions. The Hispanic subsample and the White subsample are significantly different in weight and stature but not in any hand dimensions. Compared to their Asian counterparts, the Hispanics are taller and heavier and their fingers are thicker but not longer. These results may have implications for the design of gloves and other personal protective equipment in the meat processing industry. It is cautioned that due to the limited sample size, the study results must be considered preliminary in nature; an expanded study is recommended to address the sizing issue of cut-resistance gloves for the meat processing worker population.