Ergonomic Risk Assessment of Working Postures in Small Scale Industries

Ergonomics is the study of the interaction between people and machines and the factors that affect the interaction. A number of factors play a significant role in ergonomics, and these factors determine the health, safety, comfort and efficient performance at workplace. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are the most common problems in manual work in small scale industries. The study presents assessment of working postures of workers from different small scale industries engaged in different activities. About 140 workers from 4 industries namely stone cutting and polishing, saw mills, brick making and dal mill are selected randomly. The study includes administering a musculoskeletal questionnaire to determine the level of MSDs among the workers. The workers are subjected to awkward postures like bending, twisting, heavy load carrying, etc. Evaluation of these postures was carried out using ergonomic assessment tools Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). It can be concluded from the study that 32% of the postures adopted by workers are in high risk according to RULA and 36% are in high risk according to REBA assessment tools and need to be changed urgently. It is recommended to improve the working postures by ergonomic controls and interventions, and encourage the use of PPEs in order to improve the efficiency of the workers and overall productivity.