ACGIH Threshold Limit Value for Hand Activity Level

Developed by: ACGIH (American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists)

Description: A two-page pdf assessment of hand and wrist MSDs. This assessment involves dividing the  Normalized Peak Force by the Hand Activity level, and comparing this number to two reference values: an Action Limit and a Threshold Limit Value. The Normalized Peak Force estimates the maximum effort of a task on a scale from 0 to 10. The Hand Activity Level is a visual estimation of how often someone’s hands are doing something during a workplace task, also from 0 to 10. The two reference values–Action Limit and Threshold Limit Values–are two trademarked terms developed by the American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists. The Action Limit generally represents the point when you should start taking action to change a task to proactively prevent MSDs. The Threshold Limit Value represents the upper limit of what a person can safely expect to be able to; tasks above the Threshold Limit Value are expected to cause an MSD or other injury. The second page of the resource has more detailed instructions for performing the assessment and some background information to help users interpret it. 

Keywords: hand, wrist, force, activity, action limit, threshold limit value, effort, frequency, injury