Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) are common occupational injuries among workers in the construction industry. Epidemiological studies indicated that WMSDs include neck pain, lower back pain, knee pain, leg fatigue as well as ankle and feet discomfort. The objectives of this study are to identify the WMSDs experienced by the workers during construction works and discuss the causes of those WMSDs. Subjective approach associated with modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was applied to identify the symptoms of WMSDs. A case study was conducted in several construction sites situated at the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia. During the study, 37 construction workers with different age and scope of works were interviewed to determine the WMSDs that they have experienced. Based on distributed questionnaire, almost all workers experienced pain in the region of lower back, upper back and biceps. These pains were contributed by manipulation of heavy load and high force exertion. Based on discussed causations, control measures via engineering controls method and administrative controls method were proposed to alleviate the risk of WMSDs among construction workers.
Occupational health is considered as a crucial element in almost every Small
and Medium Industries (SMIs) and it is believed to be one of vital challenges
that can influence productivity and competitiveness. It has been known that
the metal stamping industry involved a lot of materials handling tasks such as
carrying stamped parts from machine to packaging section, transferring moulds
from tools store to machines, sorting the finished products and others.
Appropriate materials handling equipments are not often provided in SMIs
because of the limitation of capital and lack of ergonomics awareness. The
workers have to handle the materials and goods manually. These practices
may lead to occupational injuries particularly back pain and musculoskeletal
injuries. The objectives of the research are to assess and analyze the muscles
activity of workers in metal stamping industry. Three male workers who
performed metal stamping process using manual technique were participated
in the research. Ergonomic assessment associated with Surface
Electromyography (SEMG) was used to capture and interpret the data related
to muscles activity at before and after the ergonomic intervention. For the
purpose of muscle activity assessment, SEMG electrodes were attached to eight
critical muscles: deltoid muscle-medial part (left), deltoid muscle-medial part
(right), trapezius muscle (left), trapezius muscle (right), erector spinae muscle
(left), erector spinae muscle (right), gastrocnemius muscle (left) and
Environmental factors such as temperature, lighting and noise have very significant impact to workers’ health, safety, comfort, performance and productivity. In an ergonomically design industrial work environment, these factors need to be control at their optimum levels. The main objective of this study is to find the effect of temperature, illuminance and sound pressure level on workers’ productivity in automotive industry. To perform this study a workstation in an automotive component manufacturing was selected as the location of the study. Results of data analysis showed there were relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on workers’ productivity. Later, the authors’ developed multiple linear equation models to represent the relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on the workers’ productivity. These multiple linear equation models could be used to predict the production rate for the workstation by referring to the value of temperature, illuminance and noise level.
Working in a safe working posture is a necessity to enhance occupational health of industrial workers. Poor
working posture may lead to injuries, discomfort and fatigue to the workers. The objective of this study is to survey the
postures practised by the Malaysian industrial workers. A questionnaire survey was performed among 282 Malaysian
industrial workers in 10 different industries. From the answered questionnaire, it was observed that shoulder at chest
level (30.1%), back in a bent forward (33.3%) and lifting heavy load (44.7%) are the major work postures practised by
most of industrial workers. This survey identifies that working with shoulder and hand at chest level and back region
moderately bent forward is the main working posture practice by worker. Workers also reported lifting load below 5 kg
at the workstation. This survey recommended for industrial workers to be aware of the comfortable working posture
to avoid injury.
The main purpose of this study was to establish the comfort zone for bus drivers in a seated position. In addition, this study is to investigate the seated pressure distribution among Malaysian bus drivers. The study consists of 10 bus drivers randomly selected to be a part of this study. The FSA pressure mat was utilized in order to investigate the force distribution of buttock to the seat pan of the drivers’ seat. This device is placed on the driver seat and backrest. Later, the subject would sit on for several minute. The finding reveals that most of the bus drivers feel discomfort by having low back pain and musculoskeletal disorder. The seat pressure distribution of Malaysian busses indicated that the seat not able to absorb high pressure generated from buttock that later may cause the discomfort and restricted the performance of drivers.