Team manual handling: a systematic review for identifying research gaps

Objectives. Team manual handling, a process still common in many jobs, can affect the safety and health of employees. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify the research gaps in this area for future studies. Methods. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology was followed. Related papers were searched on PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest and Scopus electronic databases until September 2020. Results. A total of 300 papers were identified, of which 28 were selected for final review based on the respective criteria. The findings of these studies were classified and evaluated based on biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical approaches. No study was found for the epidemiological approach. Only three papers mentioned the body physiological responses in team manual handling. The focus of the related studies found in this field was team lifting. No study was found on team pulling and pushing. Most studies were performed in a laboratory setting using young students who had no experience of team manual handling. Conclusion. The results of this study emphasize the need for further research, especially using the epidemiological and physiological approaches in different tasks of team manual handling in real work environments using experienced workers.