Research Article Open Access

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Workers' Performing Manual Material Handling Work in an Automotive Manufacturing Company

Baba Md. Deros1, Dian Darina Indah Daruis1, Ahmad Rasdan Ismail1, Nurfarhana Abdullah Sawal1 and Jaharah A. Ghani1
  • 1 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM, Bangi, 43600 Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Problem statement: The study investigated the prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) among workers who perform the Manual Material Handling (MMH) task in an automotive manufacturing plant in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was carried out among the workers in an automotive manufacturing plant. Approach: Respondents were selected through random sampling. Then, a Body Parts Symptoms Survey (BPSS) data sheets were given to the workers to obtain the prevalence of MSD among them. Later, a few workers were selected based on the In-House Clinic (IHC) visitations data for interviews. Results: Five hundreds workers showed that the highest prevalence of MSD was Low Back Pain (LBP). It was found from interviews of 17 workers who had 3 or more visitation times to the IHC that the main reason of the ergonomic risk comes from the task that they perform. It was found that the highest prevalence of MSD was lower back pain, followed by pain at feet/ankle and pain at upper back regions. Almost one third of the study populations claimed to feel uncomfortable to their upper back and lower back. Conclusion: It was concluded that the back pain the workers are experiencing may be a result of their ignorance in the correct and ergonomic techniques in materials handling.

American Journal of Applied Sciences
Volume 7 No. 8, 2010, 1087-1092

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2010.1087.1092

Submitted On: 6 July 2010 Published On: 31 August 2010

How to Cite: Deros, B. M., Daruis, D. D. I., Ismail, A. R., Sawal, N. A. & Ghani, J. A. (2010). Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Workers' Performing Manual Material Handling Work in an Automotive Manufacturing Company. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 7(8), 1087-1092. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2010.1087.1092

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Keywords

  • Automotive
  • back pain
  • manual material handling
  • musculoskeletal disorders
  • prevalence