Work related musculoskeletal disorder among workers of Penang Port Sdn Bhd / Mohd Hafiz Ab Rahman

Introduction: Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) are common in the majority of industrial settings. A lot of industries, for example computer and other high tech industries involve considerable amount of assembly work, which by nature is very difficult to automate. Acute and chronic work-related injuries may be attributed to excessive force demanded by the task. (Chung et.al., 2003). Scientific evidence shows that effective ergonomic interventions can lower the physical demands of Manual Material Handling work task, thereby lowering the incidence and severity of the musculoskeletal injuries that can cause (NIOSH, 2007). Their potential for reducing injury related costs alone makes ergonomic interventions a useful tool for improving a company's productivity, product quality, and overall business competitiveness.
Methodology: This study was evaluated the musculoskeletal disorder problem and ergonomic risk assessment among manual handling in Penang Port Sdn Bhd employees at the Cargo and Container Department that involves manual handling located in Butterworth, Penang. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews, direct observation of the manual handling work.
Results: All were asked questions related working hours, frequency of working in week, musculoskeletal disorder symptoms and awareness. Fifteen (15) (50%) of respondent were Malay, 4 (13.3%) were Indian and 11 (36.7%) Nepal. They have work of experience about 1-3 years about 9 (30%), with the most of the respondents were length about 4-6 years comprises of 12 (40%), then 7-9 years about 6 (20%) and the long service of the respondents were about 10-13 years 3 (10%). For weight and height, majority of respondents (30%) were 66-70 kg and (36.7%) were 166-170cm respectively. Table 12 below shows the distribution of the study population.
Conclusion: In conclusion, ergonomic risk levels among workers are very high that consists of 86.7% of them. The prevalence on body part of musculoskeletal disorder