U.S. Army bridge crewmembers perform tough manual materials handling (MMH) tasks during assembly of a Medium Girder Bridge (MGB); designed for rapid manual assembly under adverse conditions. The bridge components are extremely heavy and are designed to be carried and assembled using simple hand tools. A human factors assessment of the MMH tasks revealed that the bridge crewmembers undergo high biomechanical stresses which lead to various musculoskeletal disorders. This study deals with the application of Human Factors Engineering and Mechanical Engineering methodologies to design and build mechanical assists which would reduce injury caused by manual material handling of bridge components and at the same time improve the efficiency of the bridge building process --Abstract, page iii
