Musculoskeletal ailments in Indian injection-molded plastic furniture manufacturing shop-floor: Mediating role of work shift duration

Abstract The present manuscript aims to investigate the occurrence of awkward working postures and the consequent prevalence of the Symptoms of Musculoskeletal Ailments (SMA) among the shop floor workers of Indian small and medium scale injection molded plastic furniture manufacturing factories. An attempt has also been made to assess the contributing role of Workstation Design (WD), Working Postures (WP) and Work Shift Duration (WSD) concerning symptoms of musculoskeletal ailments and to find out the inter-relationships among all these factors. Direct observation aided by photography helped to observe working methods, postures and the design of workstations. The prevalence of SMA was evaluated using Standardized Nordic Questionnaire and awkward WP by postural assessment tools like Ovako Working posture Analysis System (OWAS) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). SMA was significantly (p  Relevance to industry Symptoms of Musculoskeletal Ailments (SMA) due to awkward working posture and bad workstation design are exacerbated in prolonged work shift duration. Regulating work shift duration could be a possible ergonomic intervention strategy to curb SMA, if the scope for workstation and work method redesign towards avoiding awkward posture is limited.

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