A Review on Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tools for Manual Material Handling Tasks in Industries

Manual material handling tasks are unavoidable in almost every industry. Generally, these type of activities or tasks were performed repetitively, for longer duration in awkward postures without proper break schedules by workers which leads to work related issues (WMSDs). Instead of avoiding those tasks prevention is the primary thing in every sector. This review gives an organized overview of risk assessment techniques in various industries and identified the gaps in the study. This review tabulated the literature from recent years to past. This study identified various factors effecting the workers’ health and safety, most of factors are showing negative impact on workers’ health and causing them MSDs, Major musculoskeletal disorders are related to trunk followed by neck followed by shoulders and legs. Most of the studies included surveys, observational and direct methods as risk assessment tools and suggested some ergonomic interventions. Hence studies suggest that continuous risk assessment should be present in-order to mitigate worker related issues and to reduce claims related to WMSDs.