Ergonomics risk assessment for musculoskeletal disorders in a manufacturing plant

Today, occupational disorders are an important social problem and Occupational Musculoskeletal Disorders (OMDs) are serious health problems that represent the majority of occupational diseases. While OMDs cause a decrease in product and working life quality and efficiency, they also cause time losses, an increase in health expenditures and cost. Improper working positions cause OMDs, and so increase in occupational accidents. For this reason, the analysis of ergonomic risks of the working positions of the employees is crucial. The aim of this study is to perform an ergonomic analysis of the working positions of personnel working in different units of a textile plant and to evaluate the risks of OMDs. Within the scope of the study, REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) method, which is one of the commonly used ergonomic risk measurement and evaluation methods, and allows to study of positional risks for the whole body with regard to the task performed is applied. In the light of the findings obtained from the analysis performed in this study, suggestions are provided to the company management with regard to working conditions and structure in order to increase the work efficiency and quality as well as the health and safety of the employees. Keywords: Ergonomic risk assessment, ergonomics, REBA, occupational musculoskeletal disorders