Ergonomics intervention in inspection and final process section at medical manufacturing company

Ergonomics intervention approach is important to overcome problems related to Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) in the medical manufacturing sector. One of the most common interventions is changing the working condition from sitting to standing position so that workers’ efficiency can be increased. However, prolonged standing can contribute to discomfort and fatigue at lower body parts and may pose significant health risk to the operator. Therefore, in this study ergonomics intervention to control MSD risk due to prolonged standing was investigated and assessed to propose the most suitable solution. This study was conducted according to the Department of Safety & Health (DOSH) Malaysia guideline which involved four important tasks; (1) MSD identification, (2) Ergonomics Risk Factors identification (3) problem assessment and (4) propose the ergonomics intervention. High number of complaints were found regarding fatigue and pain at leg and foot caused by prolonged static standing and repetition at station 4-2 at Inspection and Final Process Section. The main reason was operators at the station 4-2 need to stand without shoes for at least eight hours daily and one hour continuously and at the same time need to step on a foot pedal to complete tasks. The Prolonged Standing Strain Index (PSSI) score showed an unsafe condition. Four solutions were proposed which are to provide the operator with shoes, substitute the Foot Pedal with an electro-pneumatic device, provide a sit-stand chair and job rotation. The PSSI reassessment showed a significant difference on PSSI scores with the ergonomics intervention. This study shows that prolonged standing will give major impact on the lower limbs especially foot and leg discomfort or pain. For future work, the study needs to conduct an objective assessment to support the results and the ergonomics intervention needs to be validated after a few weeks of implementation.