Investigation of Ergonomic Risk Factors Among Male Workers in a Medical Manufacturing Company in Northern Malaysia

Abstract

The medical manufacturing industry is currently one of the sectors with great potential growth in Malaysia, which offers numerous job opportunities to local and foreign workers. The growing proportion of workers in this industry means that a large number of workers are potentially exposed to ergonomic risk factors at the workplace, which may consequently affect their health. Thus, this study was carried out is to investigate the ergonomic risk factors and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among male workers in a medical manufacturing company in northern Malaysia. Eight industrial workers (n = 8) were recruited from two Plastic Technology (PT) departments to participate in this study. Observations were made by recording the participants performing two tasks (manual lifting of containers and bags of chemicals) using a video camera at the PT1 and PT3 departments. The participants’ personal information and their job-related characteristics were first collected using a demographic questionnaire. Next, the Cornell Musculoskeletal and Hand Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) was used to evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among workers while Manual Handling Assessment Charts (MAC) were used to assess the most common risk factors during the lifting operations. The results showed that the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among the male workers at the medical manufacturing company was at the lower back (83.17%), upper back (4.38%), right shoulder (3.49%), and left shoulder (3.49%). Based on the results of the MAC, 100% of the participants were at high risk of injury from postures in the vertical lift zones, torso twisting, and sideways bending. In addition, 87.5 and 62.5% of the participants were at high risk of injury based on their hand distance from the lower back and grip on the load, respectively. The results of this study can serve as a guideline to implement interventional ergonomics programmes at the workplace and improve the musculoskeletal health of workers in the medical manufacturing industry in Malaysia.

An Investigation of Ergonomic Risk Factors and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Performance

“…This study is in line with research studies that show that ergonomic risk factors have a significant relationship with back pain (Kee & Seo, 2007). Athirah and Nurul's (2020) study showed that the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among male workers in medical manufacturing companies was in the lower back (83.17%), upper back (4.38%), right shoulder (3.49%), and left shoulder (3.49%) . Next, the results of the study show that the dimension of awkward posture also has a significant and positive relationship with job stress among workers in the manufacturing sector (r = 0.213, k < 0.01).…”

“…While the results of the study show that the dimension of awkward posture also has a significant and positive relationship with occupational accidents among workers in the manufacturing sector (r = 0.358, k < 0.01). Athirah and Nurul's (2020) study also stated that 87.5 and 62.5% of participants were at high risk of injury and the risk of contributing to an accident based on the distance of their hands from the lower back and the grip of loads during duty.…”

Innovations in Ergonomic Risk Assessment and Intervention in Material Handling

“…Karimi et al (2020) did a special study in a milk factory, showing that starting ergonomic steps and manager decisions together made better ways of working and less muscle soreness. In making things, farming, health help, and building work areas, moving things many times don't think of ergonomics, causing MSDs (Susihono et al, 2018;Yusof & Shalahim, 2020;Marak et al, 2020;Qureshi et al, 2019;Curbano, 2018). Yusof & Shalahim (2020) saw that workers making things felt a lot of lower back MSDs, with lifting heavy things being a big danger.…”

Ergonomic Risk Factors and Job Performance of Electronic Employee in Malaysia

“…The growing proportion of workers in manufacturing industry means that many workers are potentially exposed to ergonomic risk factors at the workplace, which may consequently affect their health. The authors suggested a guideline to implement interventional ergonomics programmes at the workplace and improve the musculoskeletal health of workers in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia (4). Ergonomics has gained attention and take into consideration by the workers in the different fields of works recently.…”