Advices for the design of powered hand tools

The observation of a high number of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in some industrial sectors (automotive, assembly of appliances), knowledge of the main biomechanical risk factors related to the occurrence of these diseases and ergonomic analysis of work situations in industry have established a link between the use of portable power and the onset of MSD. Given this situation, the design of hand tools in general and particularly powered hand tools has been the subject of special attention from scientists, but also manufacturers. Thus the design or selection of a powered hand tool have to take into account both the requirements for the tool (force, torque...), the user (muscle strength, anthropometric dimensions...) and also those related to the task (frequency and duration of use...). Each of these requirements interacting with others, none of them cannot be ignored or treated separately from the others.
This article aims to describe the main criteria to be considered when designing or choosing a portable machine to reduce the risk of MSD and present an approach for their effective integration.