Workstation designing for reduction of occupational health hazards of workers engaged in weaving enterprise

Pages: 356-360
Deepa Vinay, Seema Kwatra, Suneeta Sharma, and Kumkum Pandey (Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, G.B. P.U.A & T., Pantnagar, U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand )

The reduction of postural stress is fundamental to workstation design in ergonomics. A multifaceted approach is needed to arrive at appropriate workstation design for different workers. The requirement of tasks and the characteristics of users need to be considered in relation to the options for workstation design. Therefore present study was carried out to assess and improve the workstation design for weaving operation and for the reduction of associated occupational health hazards. Descriptive cum experimental research design was chosen for the present study. Thirty workers (27 female & 3 male) involved in various weaving activities formed the sample for the investigation. Along with this, physiological parameters and postural angle analysis of weavers were assessed by conducting the experiments. To improve posture and potentially decrease musculoskeletal problems provision of ergonomically-designed workstations for weavers was intervened. Participation of women respondents was found maximum in this enterprise. The work was performed using frequent changes of the postures which included sitting, standing, forward and backward bending postures which can lead to MSD. All these activities were performed using two types of workstations. Due to prolonged sitting posture while performing the activity led to stiffness in calf muscles and besides this it also causes pain in feet as well as in back. To improve posture and decrease MSD problems, ergonomically-designed workstation for weavers were refined and developed. Two prototype of sitting stool and stool cum chair was introduced to test the suitability of the technology and it was found that there was reduction of MSDs by 48 percent along with enhancement in production.