Ergonomic risk assessment methods of employee at the sugar manufacturing facility investigation of business and situation

In order to be able to produce sugar from sugar beet brought to the factory from the field, it must maintain its freshness. The harvest of sugar beet usually starts in the first week of September and ends in the last week of December. During this period, the sugar beet is harvested from the field and brought to the factory with a planning. Therefore, sugar factories produce from the beginning of September to the end of December. In the remaining times, sugar factories are cleaned and prepared for the next sugar production, repair and maintenance works are carried out within the factory, investments are made to increase production quality and efficiency, working conditions are improved, etc. work is done. The period in which sugar is produced in sugar factories is called the "campaign period" and the period in which sugar production is prepared is called the "revision period". In the sugar factory, which is the subject of my thesis, during a campaign period, fourteen thousand tons (14,000 tons) of sugar beet is processed, and a total of one million two hundred thousand tons (1,200,000 tons) of sugar beet. Mass production in sugar factories increases the possibility of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in people working in the sugar factory, long-term and constantly repetitive work and inappropriate body movements. The increase in musculoskeletal disorders (MSR) in working people has made it necessary to carry out an ergonomic risk assessment. In this study, risk assessment methods such as REBA (Rapid entire body assessment), RULA (Rapid upper limb assessment), NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), which are ergonomic risk analysis methods, were used. As a result of the analyzes made, in the works that are repeated for a long time (sugar stacking, pulp baling, parquet sand leveling, etc.) and in the works where the posture is disturbed during the work (transferring the sugar beet to the canal with water jet, hoeing by hand, cleaning the centrifuge parts, etc.) has been found to have a high ergonomic risk level. In continuous and long-term repetitive jobs, the number of people should be increased and the employee's muscle movement repetition and working time should be reduced. In work groups where the posture is deteriorated during the work, appropriate postures should be determined, and the employee should be able to work in the correct position.