Evaluation of work Posture by RULA and REBA: A Case Study

Jurnal Ilmiah Teknik Industri, 2018

CV Valasindo is furniture industry that produces a wide range of wood product. The production process in CV. Valasindo is devided in two areas, preparation of materials area and production area. This research is focused on work posture of the production area's workers. The production area itself consists of work stationssuch as assembly, construction and finishing. The production area was chosen because on the production process in this area is still done manually by the operator. Additionally, on the production area is also still present a series of no ergonomic work posture, both on the work station construction, assembly and finishing. The purpose of this research is to identify a work posture on the production area and doing an improvement to lowers the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Based on the results of the assessment work posture against 18 work stations at the production area, the seat assembly work station it is known that has the highest risk of musculoskeletal injuries with a score of QEC 67. 9%, REBA 9, OWAS 3 as well as score NBM 75. Based on work by posture assessment method of QEC, REBA, OWAS and reinforced with method NBM then the improvement will be focused on work station assembly seat. In this study, the improvements done by designing a working facility in the form of tables and chairs work. Based on the results of the design work facilities have been simulated and the result is the risk of musculoskeletal injuries that used to be high risk decrease to be low risk.

International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 2020

Work activities in the office are generally static and take a long period of time. This activity is carried out with awkward postures that result in fatigue and injuries. The study is conducted in one of the business entities providing services construction and management of network infrastructure at the Division of Process Aligning Service Comply in January 2019. These activities are reflected in the conditions of work posture for bending, the use of maximum range and uncomfortable position of certain body parts, and will have an impact on decreasing productivity of workers. Therefore, an analysis was carried out to evaluate the posture of employees in order to find the potential problem of the work posture used. The RULA method can be used to evaluate musculoskeletal load in a job where a person has the risk of the upper-body activity. The sample used in this study was workers who work in a sitting position with their activities using a computer. Based on the analysis, it is known that worker activity gets a score that indicates that the workstation requires a change.

Advances in chemical and materials engineering book series, 2018

The chores of forest nursey workers are comprised of manual labor based on the physical structure of the worker. Long term working postures repeated throughout the shift results in strains at various levels in the body of the worker thereby having adverse impacts on their performances. There are various methods developed in literature for ergonomic risk assessment. The purpose of this study was to examine the working postures of nursery workers working at the Bayburt and Hendek forest nurseries and to analyze problematic working postures using the ergonomic risk analysis methods of OWAS (Owako Working position Analysis System), REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment), and RULA (Rapid Upper Limbs Assessment) the reliabilities of which have been proven in literature. This result reveals that hazardous and very hazardous ratios in working postures were 4.6%, 8%, 20% in OWAS, REBA, and RULA methods, respectively. Based on the opinion that the method yielding greater risks is more sensitive for eliminating the risks in the shortest amount of time, it can be put forth that the RULA method gave more sensitive results in comparison with the OWAS and REBA methods.

International journal of occupational safety and health, 2024

Introduction: Musculoskeletal disorders are the major factors resulting in discomfort at work in manufacturing industries to workers and these conditions contribute to the poor health of the workforce, subsequently to lower productivity. Therefore, the design of a workstation based on Ergonomic principles is becoming significant to reduce the effects of MSD. This study aimed to identify and assess the ergonomic risks associated with the work tasks in the company through posture analysis and develop recommendations for reducing those risks. Methods: About 36 manufacturing workers from five sections were randomly selected for the cross-sectional study. The chosen team members were from Core building, Core winding, Assembly, Tanking and Tank fabrication sections with experience of more than two years. The presence of MSDs was assessed using a Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. For postural analysis, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) were utilized. Few selected postures were analysed using CATIAV5 software and improvements reducing the risks of postures were recommended. Results: All of the 36 workers selected for the study were male with a mean age of 32 years, average experience of 10 years and 75% of workers had normal body mass index. The MSD questionnaire indicated discomfort of 86% mostly on the lower back portion of the body. The combined findings of RULA and REBA showed that about 44% of postures were in the high-risk group. Conclusion: Well-defined ergonomic interventions such as redesigning the workstation are suggested to reduce awkward postures and manual handling risks, leading to improvement in job performance and productivity.

Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN) Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 2015

Various musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) symptoms can be experienced by the workers performing their tasks in bad work postures which are largely static and consequently these are associated with long term risks and injuries. These postures also have a bad impact on work performance and labor productivity. In this regard, this case study research work has been conducted in a selected ceramic factory of Bangladesh with the aim of evaluation of work postures of workers working in the production section of the factory through rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) and their impact on labor productivity. The secondary objective of the research work was to draw an analysis of associated risks with the bad work posture. In order to evaluate the work postures of workers, RULA technique has been used. RULA is a widely used tool developed for the assessment of work postures which specifically examines the level of risk associated with the upper limb disorder of individual workers by scoring the different body region of the workers. The results obtained from this research work have been plotted into three main sections, namely the identification of good or bad work posture and the level of risks associated with poor work posture and their impact on labor productivity. It has been identified that most workers have been exposed to the upper limb discomfort which in turn contributes to the risk of injuries during the performance of work. Through the analysis of RULA, it has been revealed that no posture is found risk free during the investigation of work postures of workers. According to RULA grand score of 7, 43.59% of the workers need immediate investigation and changes indicating that the level of exposure to postural risks is very high and immediate ergonomics intervention to decrease the exposure to risk level seem essential. The consequence of bad work posture results in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) which have also been analyzed in this research work. The most commonly affected body regions found among the 39 listed workers are shoulders (92.31%), neck (71.79%), wrist (71.31%), lower back (43.59%) and upper back (41.03%). Lastly, the correlation between RULA grand score and labor productivity has been shown. The graphical analysis reveals that there is a decreasing trend of labor productivity with the higher RULA grand score establishing the fact that there exists an inverse relationship between average RULA grand score and average labor productivity.

Background: Occupational diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders changed to be one of the most important issues in different workplaces. They could be obvious on various parts of the body. Although researchers can find different sorts of techniques to assess Work Related MusculoSkeletal Disorders (WRDSDs) they look forward to find newer ones that are more strength. Objective: This in this cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was objected to evaluate posture of workers in a publishing industry by Loading on the Upper Body Assessment (LUBA) as a new method and also Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), to analyze risk factors of WRMSDs in a central province of Iran. Materials and Methods: All workers were included. Gathering data about musculoskeletal disorders was done using NMQ. LUBA considers postures of four body parts including neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Finally, data were tested through SPSS Version 20 and by applying Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Kappa agreement tests. Results: NMQ depicted that the most problems were in lumbar with the prevalence of 35.1%. One more thing, it was found that postures in the second action level and needed to more studies were in majority results showed the position of posture can predict disorders in this part of the body (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Altogether, upper limbs were not in desirable conditions and need more attention in the form of correction in workstations and manners of doing the tasks. However, it is recommended to develop more studies.

International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences

Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a global problem which evolves at different workplaces such as industries, administrative, and agriculture sectors. In various studies, such disorders were assessed through multiple methods. It is necessary to evaluate different tools to use them in diverse communities. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the new ergonomic evaluating method of Novel Ergonomic Postural Assessment (NERPA) method in Iran. Methods: The employees (n=455) of operational units of four companies (drug producers, printing and publishing houses, dairy, and drinks producers) were assessed in 2014. It was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study. One of the researchers developed a questionnaire that was applied to collect demographic data. The NERPA, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) methods were utilized to analyze posture risk factors. Spearman correlation and Kappa agreement were used to analyze the collected data through SPSS V22. Results: Findings indicated that printing company had the best and pharmaceutical industries had the worst state regarding RULA's results. The risk levels between NERPA and REBA were not statistically significant (P>0.05), however, that was significant with RULA's outcome. Also, the results of NERPA and other two methods were correlated significantly (P<0.05). Pain in the lumbar area was implied to be the most prevalent problem (35.1%). Discussion: Data of the present study suggest that NERPA method was a valid tool compared to RULA. The NERPA method could be used to evaluate standing tasks among industrial workers. However, the concurrent validity of NERPA method compared with results of REBA, as a widely used method, were not verified.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are amongst the most common work-related problems throughout the world and India is no exception. MSD risk factors can be an appropriate base for planning and implementing ergonomics intervention programs in the workplace. The present study is focused on identifying the occupational health and safety risks of workers in Indian sawmills. The workers in saw mills are exposed to MSD risks, hard environmental conditions (high temperatures, slippery and uneven ground), heavy works (manual handling of loads, awkward postures, ) and dangerous tools and machineries such as chainsaws, band saw, chippers, etc. . In this study we have considered different logger groups working in saw mills in Karnataka State and analyzed their MSD risk exposure, occupational health hazards and noise exposure. In a developing country like India, where labor is cheap and most of the workers are economic migrants, proper occupational health, hygiene and ergonomic factors are neglected . The workers accept the adverse working conditions as part of the job and mostly work in such work environments. NORDIC musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to analyze areas of pain and their occurrence in the past. Postural analysis using REBA, RULA indicates that the workers are working above the safe limit. The average REBA score observed was 7.5. The hazardous postures and MSD's were also justified by the questionnaires and VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) techniques. Moreover the workers were exposed to noise levels above the OSHA's safe limits for prolonged time. These methods indicated that different body parts at specific postures are vulnerable to injury and musculoskeletal disorders and warrant immediate ergonomics intervention

International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology (IJERT), 2016

https://www.ijert.org/ergonomic-evaluation-to-improve-work-posture https://www.ijert.org/research/ergonomic-evaluation-to-improve-work-posture-IJERTV5IS031136.pdf Industries today are facing numerous challenges to maintain the health and performance of employees while attempting to integrate new technologies. The health related problems such as Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) and Repetitive Motion Disorders (RMD) are prevalent in workers due to monotonous working on the shop floor. Hence there is a need to document the worker's problems related to their work area and evaluate the results obtained from the survey. Ergonomic assessments confirm that a worker's workstation is ergonomically designed to detract the risk of injury and escalate productivity. Ergonomic assessment tools such as RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) and REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) were used for the postural analysis of the workers working on the workstation. Video recordings on various activities of the workers was prepared and then images were taken from it for the analysis. The results of RULA and REBA assessment worksheets first showed major signs of risk to the health of workers and after suggesting a suitable mechanism , again the results were calculated which showed signs of low risk comparatively. This led to an increase in the productivity of the manufacturing company and also reduced the fatigue of workers considerably which is discussed further in the paper.