Ergonomic Risk Assessment during an Informal Hand-Made Cookware Operation: Extending an Existing Model
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Data Collection
2.2. Data Analysis
Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) Tool
- (i)
- RULA—An Existing Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tool
- (ii)
- An extended RULA method
3. Results
3.1. Demographic and Work Characteristics
3.2. Hand-Made Cookware Operation Process
3.3. Risk Assessment
3.4. Action Priority Matrix
3.5. Application of the Extended Tool in Other Informal Work Settings
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | n (%) |
---|---|
Age: mean (SD) | 36 (14) |
Gender: Male | 18 (100) |
Education: never completed high school | 14 (78) |
Personal protective equipment | 2 (11) |
Working period: ≥5 years | 7 (40) |
Description of the Activity | Description of the Hazard | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Back | Arm | Legs | Wrist | Instrumentation/Load | |||
Preparing sand | Loosening sand and breaking up lumps in the soils | The movement of the back is very frequent (around 12 times per minute or more) | Repetitive movements of the arms and lifting weights above shoulder height (12 times per minute or more) | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position | Repetitive movements of the wrist (12 times per minute or more with 15° or more in either flexion or extension | Spade or shovel, maximum force exerted was ±2 kg | |
Preparing flat sand surface | Preparing a flat sand surface to make a bed for the mould cavity | The range in movement of the trunk is 60° or more flexion (12 times per minute or more) | Repetitive movements of the arms (12 times per minute or more) | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position | Repetitive movements of the wrist. The task involves 0–15° in either flexion or extension (12 times per minute or more) | The maximum force exerted was ±2 kg | |
Loading sand | Loading sand onto the replica of the cookware and the casting box to create mould cavity | The range in movement of the trunk is at or between 20–60° flexion. In some instances, the back is excessively flexed or twisted or the side is bent. The movement of the back is very frequent (around 12 times per minute or more) | Repetitive movements of the arms (12 times per minute or more) | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position | Repetitive movements of the wrist. The task involves 0–15° in either flexion or extension (12 times per minute or more) | Spade, maximum weight of between 3 and 5 kg | |
Creating mould cavity | Packing sand onto the replica of the cookware to make a mould cavity and ramming sand onto the excess space of the casting box | The range in movement of the trunk is at or between 20–60° flexion. In some instances, the back is excessively flexed or twisted or side bent. The movement of the back is very frequent (around 12 times per minute or more) | Lifting weights above shoulder height and repeating similar motion patterns more than 12 times per minute | Kneeling on one or both knees | Repetitive movements of the wrist. The task involves 0–15° in either flexion or extension (12 times per minute or more) | Shovel and a 7-kg rod is used for ramming the sand | |
Dismantle the casting box and sprinkling ash | Dismantling the casting box and sprinkling ash onto the mould cavity and flat sand surface | Moderately/excessively flexed or twisted or side bent | Lower arm working across the midline of the body or out to the side; in most cases, the hands are at or below waist height | Standing or squatting with one knee bent or kneeling on one or more knees | The task involves a deviated or bent wrist | The maximum weight handled manually ranges from light (5 kg or less), moderate (6 to 10 kg), heavy (11 to 20 kg) and very heavy (more than 20 kg) | |
Liquefying scrap metal | Liquifying scrap metal (i.e., used car and motor bike engine parts, waste aluminium and computer components) | Moderately flexed | Repetitive movements of the arms (12 times per minute or more) | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position. | Repetitive movements of the wrist. The task involves 0–15° in either flexion or extension (12 times per minute or more) | Handling maximum weight of ±10 kg | |
Transporting and pouring molten metal into the mould | Transporting molten metal from the furnace to the workstation and pouring molten metal into the mould cavity | The back remains in a static position during the pouring of molten metal | Static posture of the arms | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position | Static posture of the wrist | Long hand handled cup shaped bowl maximum weight of between 11 to 20 kg. The load of more than 10 kg is static for more than 1 min | |
Breaking the mould | Breaking the mould | The range in movement of the trunk is at or between 20–60° flexion. In some instances, the back is excessively flexed or twisted or side bent. The movement of the back is very frequent (around 12 times per minute or more) | Repetitive movements of the arms (more than 12 times per minute) | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or positions | Repetitive movements of the wrist (around 12 times per minute or more) | Spade or 7 kg rod, maximum weight of between 3 and 5 kg | |
Removing defects | Inspection of the final product to remove any defects by removing sand, excess metal from the casting | Moderately/excessively flexed or twisted or side bent, vibration | Repetitive movements of the arms, (around 12 times per minute or more) and vibration | Body weight is evenly distributed over both feet, with room for changes or position, vibration | Repetitive movements of the wrist (around 12 times per minute or more) and vibration | Sanding machine, maximum weight of more than 20 kg. |
Task | Mean (SD) | Median | Minimum | Maximum |
---|---|---|---|---|
Preparing sand | 4 (0.0) | 4 | - | 4 |
Preparing flat sand surface | 4 (0.6) | 4 | 2 | 4 |
Loading sand | 4 (0.3) | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Creating mould cavity | 4 (0.3) | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Dismantling the mould cavity and sprinkling ash | 3 (0.3) | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Liquifying metal | 3 (0.5) | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Transporting and pouring molten metal into the mould | 3 (0.9) | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Breaking the mould | 3 (0.8) | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Removing defects | 4 (0.0) | 4 | - | 4 |
Task | * Average RULA Action Level | ** Duration Per Task | *** Vibration | # Exposure Value | ## Exposure Classification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | Medium |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | High |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | Medium |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 12 | High |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | Medium |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Medium |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | Medium |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | Medium |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 17 | Very high |
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Shezi, B.; Street, R.A.; Mathee, A.; Cele, N.; Ndabandaba, S.; Naidoo, R.N. Ergonomic Risk Assessment during an Informal Hand-Made Cookware Operation: Extending an Existing Model. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 9459. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189459
Shezi B, Street RA, Mathee A, Cele N, Ndabandaba S, Naidoo RN. Ergonomic Risk Assessment during an Informal Hand-Made Cookware Operation: Extending an Existing Model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(18):9459. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189459
Chicago/Turabian StyleShezi, Busisiwe, Renee A. Street, Angela Mathee, Nokulunga Cele, Sipho Ndabandaba, and Rajen N. Naidoo. 2021. "Ergonomic Risk Assessment during an Informal Hand-Made Cookware Operation: Extending an Existing Model" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 18: 9459. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189459