The Effects of Alcohol on Performance of a Production Assembly Task

Abstract

Phase I of this study investigated the effects of a trace level of alcohol (1·3 mM) and a very low level of blood alcohol (3·7 mM) on the manual assembly of a common water tap. The productivity measure used was the time required to assemble six taps. The quality of work measure was the number of assembly sequence and improper assembly errors. Six subjects participated in the repeated measures design. Ordered treatment effects were significant at p<0·05 using the Page nonparametric test for the overall elapsed time scores and for twist, grasp and return micromotion work elements. There was a 2·9% increase in overall elapsed time with a mean blood alcohol content of 3·7 mM. Quality of work degraded with increased blood alcohol content, p<0·05. Phase II used the same experimental design to investigate effects at 6·54 mM and 14·8 mM average blood alcohol content. The Page tests for overall assembly time and for the twist therblig were both significant at p<0·05. The increase in overall assembly time for 6·54 mM and 14·8 mM blood alcohol levels was 3·5% and 19% respectively. The quality of work measure was not significant.