Ergonomic Intervention Through ‘OCRA’: an Ergonomic Tool, for Workposture Assessment of Periodic Overhauling Activities in Mechanical Industries
Keywords:
Musculoskeletal disorder, bio-mechanical overload, OCRA, occupational health hazards, work posture assessment, work load.Abstract
Ergonomics is the science which deals with the perfect fit between man, machine and environment. This paper focuses on the Occupational Repetitive Action (OCRA) based working posture assessment of the industrial worker which is extremely important not only from ergonomic point of view but also to boost the comfort level of the worker. The method is based on the data for a set of joint motion including hand, arm, neck, back and the corresponding holding time in static and dynamic posture considering repetitive actions which has suggested as a preferred method to measure the risk of bio-mechanical overload of the upper limb in ISO and CEN bio-mechanical standard which provides criteria and assessment tools for risk evaluation at different levels in details. Hundred male subjects who are directly involved to the Periodic Overhauling (POH) in fabricating job are studied and assessed through the ergonomic tool OCRA. Based on statistical interpretation, the 33.33% of the subject are in low-medium risk, 50% are in the medium risk and the remaining are in the high risk. This result suggests an analytical risk assessment technique which is useful to design or redesigning the work station and strategy planning to increase the productivity maintaining worker’s physical and mental condition.
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