Effects of Ergonomic Interventions on Health Indicators in a Rubber Industry

This study was conducted with the aim of determining the impact of engineering, organizational and individual ergonomic interventions on the indicators of the percentage of workers complaining of musculoskeletal problems, having an inappropriate work station, exposure to inappropriate manual handling, and also the percentage of sick leave in workers of a rubber industry.

Materials and methods:

This is a descriptive-analytical and retrospective study that was conducted in the production department of a rubber manufacturing industry. Ergonomic interventions that have been fully implemented in the industry and have been stable were included in the study, and data were extracted by examining the documentation related to ergonomic assessment tools before and after each intervention. Before and after comparison of indicators was done using paired t and Wellcoxon tests.

Results:

 Ergonomic interventions included 114 engineering interventions, 20 organizational interventions and 7 individual interventions. Engineering interventions had a significant effect on all indicators such as in reducing total musculoskeletal problems  )66%). Organizational interventions  has led to the improvement of the index of musculoskeletal problems (60%), inappropriate posture (55%) and  pain intensity (30%). Individual interventions also had a significant effect on musculoskeletal problems (85.71%), pain intensity (42.85%) and sickleaves (100%) (P<0.05).

All three types of ergonomic interventions in the production sector of the rubber industry have been effective in reducing musculoskeletal problems. Engineering interventions have had a significant impact on all the health indicators considered in this study. Engineering interventions in the rubber industry are more effective and it is better to be implemented together with organizational or individual interventions to complete the effectiveness.