Musculoskeletal disorder and ergonomic risk assessment among manual handling workers in electronic manufacturing company / Nurul Syuhada Roseli

Introduction: Despite the widespread use of robots in industrial tasks such as assembling parts and material handling tasks, there are still many jobs in industry performed manually by humans. MMH tasks such as manually lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, or carrying an object are typical examples of the activities requiring human strength (Mital et al., 1999). The workers at Electronic Manufacturing Company were exposed to musculoskeletal disorder symptoms by the process of manual handling which lifting the tote at weight 17.2 kg. Objective: To study on musculoskeletal problem and ergonomic risk assessment among manual handling workers in electronic manufacturing company. Methodology: The study was conducted in one of the department at Electronic Manufacturing Company located in Petaling Jaya. This study is cross­ sectional study. The sampling data was collected using modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire, oral interview, direct observation, taking video and Rapid Assessment of Entire Body Assessment (REBA). The statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 18.0. Results: REBA risk level mostly very high that about 96.7% which indicates an Action Necessary Now. The high prevalence of MSD symptoms resulted from the MNQ. The association between the REBA risk level with prevalence of MSD symptoms showed significant different at lower back (p value=0.039), upper back (p value= 0.041) and shoulder (p value= 0.045) It showed that the working posture of manual handling is very high risk job, must be investigated and implement change. Conclusion: A conclusion, the engineering control need to be taken in order to reduce the risk faced by the workers from the electronic manufacturing company while perform their job.