Ergonomic interventions for prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in a small manufacturing assembly line.

The aim of this study involves performing improvements in workstation specification by using a 3-D human modeling tool and proposing well-balanced work scheduling (WBWS) to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in a small manufacturing plant. To analyze risk factors of WMSDs, various tasks in ten different types of workstations were evaluated with a detailed motion analysis using a customized checklist. Questionnaires were administered to 27 workers to evaluate symptoms related to WMSDs. Revised specifications of a workstation were suggested based on anthropometric characteristics of workers by using before-after analyses as an engineering control. Additionally, WBWS was proposed as an administrative control to avoid continuous physical stress on specific body parts in repetitive tasks. A software tool for WBWS was developed for convenient and easy application. The results of the study may aid managers in applying ergonomic interventions with time and cost savings, and enhance worker satisfaction and motivation due to improvements in working conditions to prevent WMSDs.