Musculoskeletal disorders amongst workers of glass manufacturing unit of Western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Glass manufacturing process is a very tiresome job and the working near by the furnace makes tasks more difficult for workers as the environment is very hot. Apart from working in a hot environment various awkward postures was adopted while performing various activities which are monotonous and repetitive in nature and resulted in discomfort of various body parts. The workers perform various task and activities in extremely hot environment for at least 6 hours a day. In order to identify the various discomfort body regions, a total of 120 samples were selected conveniently from one of the glass manufacturing unit of Western UP for body mapping exercise. The study findings revealed that 37.50 % respondent reported pain in their wrist followed by lower back (30.82 %) and knee pain (27.50 %.) The other discomfort regions in body were neck, shoulder, upper back, elbow/forearm, thigh and ankle and foot. The problem in the wrist were more prominent among blowers (59.46 %) followed by ball makers (50.00 %).While problem of lower back found to be more common among blowers (45.95 %) and mold closers(26.92 %) and helpers i.e.30.43 %. Relationship between task performed and the level of discomfort was found to be significant (at 5%) in neck, lower back, wrist/hand and shoulder region. Thus, the study reveals that due to the monotonous, repetitive and continuous task performed by the workers, there is an onset of musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD) which may lead to disorders in due course of time which will affect their life.