An evaluation of occupational accidents in the wooden furniture industry – A regional study in South East Asia

Ratnasingam, Jegatheswaran; Ioraş, Florin; Abrudan, I. V.

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2011.12.035

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The high precision work culture of quality and consistency characteristics of the Japanese workforce necessitates the use of automated technologies, which often eliminate human errors that may impair overall product quality and fail to meet customer expectations. A similar finding was reported in a study by Ratnasingam et al (2012) on the furniture industry in Singapore. In Singapore, the stringent labor laws encourage the application of automated technologies to comply with legal requirements and create a more effective working environment (Ratnasingam et al 2012).…”

Section: Improve Qualitysupporting

confidence: 90%

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Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0

Ratnasingam

Azim

et al. 2020

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The lack of knowledgeable and skilled workers is a major challenge faced by the Malaysian furniture sector. It hinders industrial productivity and its ability to move up the value-chain by adopting high technology. Therefore, in order to assess the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted with a sample of 778 large-, medium-, and small-sized furniture manufacturers throughout Malaysia. This study is part of an on-going Erasmus+ program funded by the European Commission, initiated in 2018 to develop a university-level education program to train workers capable of handling Industry 4.0 technologies for the furniture and wood industry in Malaysia. The results revealed that manufacturers of wood-based panel and metal furniture were more prepared to adopt automation and Industry 4.0 technologies compared to solid-wood and leather furniture manufacturers. The benefits from Industry 4.0 technologies include increased production capacity, product diversity, cost competitiveness, and workforce reduction. Further, the results of this study suggest that the lack of knowledgeable and skilled workers to handle Industry 4.0 technology is a concern among furniture manufacturers, and possibly the proposed university-level Industry 4.0 program may be beneficial to train workers for the future of the industry.

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Section: Improve Qualitysupporting

confidence: 90%

“…A similar finding was reported in a study by Ratnasingam et al (2012) on the furniture industry in Singapore. In Singapore, the stringent labor laws encourage the application of automated technologies to comply with legal requirements and create a more effective working environment (Ratnasingam et al 2012).…”

Section: Improve Qualitysupporting

confidence: 90%

Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0

Ratnasingam

Azim

et al. 2020

BioRes

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“…Main findings are presented in Table 1. The result showed that underlying health problems were common among industrial workers (Pham et al, 2019;Tran et al, 2019b;Tran et al, 2019c), with many suffering occupational diseases (Quynh Nguyen et al, 2017;Tran et al, 2016) and/or work-related injuries (Marucci-Wellman et al, 2010;Phung et al, 2008;Ratnasingam et al, 2012). A high prevalence of respiratory system problems was also reported (Chien et al, 2002).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Characterize health and economic vulnerabilities of workers to control the emergence of COVID-19 in an industrial zone in Vietnam

Tran

Latkin

et al. 2020

Safety Science

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The detection of first COVID-19 infected industrial worker in Vietnam on 13 April 2020 prompted timely effort to examine the health problems, behaviors, and health services access of industrial workers to inform effective and appropriate COVID-19 control measures, minimizing the risk of industrial sites becoming the next disease cluster. A search strategy involving search terms corresponding to 'health', 'industrial worker', and 'Vietnam' was applied to search for related papers published in English on Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Duplicates were removed, and relevant data were extracted from the full text of remaining publications. Results showed that underlying health problems, including respiratory system problems, were common among industrial workers. Many suffered occupational diseases and/or work-related injuries. Self-treatment (without medication) was the most used method when having health problems (by 28.2-51% of participants), followed by visiting commune health centers (24%) and self-medication (20.3%). Findings suggest a high risk of disease spreading among industrial workers and of them suffering more severe conditions when infected. Economic vulnerabilities may be the reason for workers' reluctance to taking time off work to attend hospital/clinic. These imply a need for involving local pharmacies, commune health centers, traditional health providers or village health collaborators as local health gatekeepers who are the first point of detecting and reporting of suspected COVID-19 cases, as well as a channel where accurate information regarding COVID-19, protective equipment, and intervention packages can be delivered. Having COVID-19 testing centers at or near industrial sites are also recommended.

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“…Dust emission levels in the finishing workstation in furniture factories are known to exceed the permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 5 mg/m 3 on an 8 h time-weighted average, and the prevailing unhealthy exposure to dust has been well reported (Ratnasingam et al 2012;NIOSH 2018). This study also revealed that the dust emission characteristics of wood coatings was influenced by the coating film hardness, which affects its ease of sanding and the resultant surface roughness.…”

Section: Part Ii: Dust Emission Characteristics Of Wood Coatingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wood coating dust emission in the Malaysian furniture industry: A case study

Ratnasingam

Arshad²,

Khoo³

et al. 2020

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The objectives of this study were to evaluate the current dust extraction efficiency used in the Malaysian furniture industry and also the effectiveness of using engineered nanoparticle (ENP)-added coatings to reduce dust emission in the wood finishing operation. This study was in response to the enforcement of the Clean Air Regulation (2014), which requires significant improvements in the air quality and the work environment in the wood-based industry in Malaysia. A series of sanding experiments with different abrasive grit sizes and different coating types were conducted to determine the dust emission levels. The results suggested that higher capture velocity of 30 m/s was necessary to effectively capture the wood coating dust emitted. Further, ENP-added wood coatings did not differ markedly from conventional coatings with regard to dust emission characteristics. The study also revealed that total dust concentration had an inverse relationship, while the amount of finer dust particles was linearly related to the coating film hardness. Therefore, to comply with the Clean Air Regulation, the Malaysian furniture industry needs to significantly improve its dust extraction system.

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An evaluation of occupational accidents in the wooden furniture industry – A regional study in South East Asia

Cited by 23 publications

References 17 publications

Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0

Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0

Characterize health and economic vulnerabilities of workers to control the emergence of COVID-19 in an industrial zone in Vietnam

Wood coating dust emission in the Malaysian furniture industry: A case study

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