Workplace Case Study 11

Ergonomic assessment of assembly line
 
 Worker at a conveyor belt
 
A number of staff reported upper limb pain, since starting to work on a new assembly line.
 
A body discomfort diagram was filled out by each worker, this produced similar data where all workers reported upper limb pain 4-5 times a day. A postural risk analysis was undertaken to give quantitative data as to the level of exposure to musculoskeletal risk that workers on the assembly line were exposed to.
 
Using the data and the observations and measurements taken during the ergonomic investigation recommendations could then be put in place to ensure that the assembly line corresponded with the 10 ergonomic principles.
 
The ergonomic study found that the assembly line ran too fast, and that workers had to adopt an awkward twist to ensure that they could keep on track. The speed was reduced and this allowed the worker to keep a neutral posture, one week later the workers reported that the pain and discomfort had subsided.

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