Assessment of ergonomic risk level at tire manufacturing plant in Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Abstract

Machine and method which was invented and inherited from the early post independent year in specialty tire manufacturing in Malaysia, still requires a labour intensive production methods and heavily dependent to semi-automated machinery. Off-The-Road or OTR tire production using the OTR Tire Building Machine has been identified as one of the most heavily integrated with the orthodox tire manufacturing processes. Therefore a prevalence study have been conducted on 51 male Tire Maker working with the Off-The-Road (OTR) Tire Building Machine at a tire manufacturing plant in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The study aims to determine the prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs),and to assess the ergonomics risk level exposure to the affected employees. Primarily, a structured survey using a modified- Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was piloted on each study subject to achieve the objectives. The results showed that 96.08% of OTR Tire Building Machine employees have experience MSD symptoms involving ache, pain or body discomfort during and after work with high percentage of MSDs prevalence affecting the shoulder (76.4%), lower back (72.55%), and wrist or hand (62.75%) regions of the body. Pictures and videos of these employees performing their routine work activities were analysed by means of Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) tool in order to generate individual Ergonomic Risk Level classification. The results showed that all the employees were exposed to Very High (86.27%) and High (13.73%) level of Ergonomic Risk. Pearson Chi Square test was conducted to determine the correlation between Ergonomic Risk Level and the subject’s demographic characteristics such as age, Body Mass Index or BMI, and years of working experience. The results however indicated that there was no association between Ergonomic Risk Level and the listed characteristics. In conclusion, the very high Ergonomic Risk Level among the Tire Building Machine employees has significantly contributed to harmful exposure and development of MSDs regardless of their age, BMI or years of working experience.