Evaluation of Work Fatigue in Loading Workers Using Muscle Fatigue Assessment Method (MFA): A Case Study in a Brick Factory

Introduction and Work fatigue is one of the main causes of workrelated musculoskeletal disorders and reduced productivity in industry. Therefore, it is vital to evaluate work fatigue, especially muscle fatigue, to determine the permissible workload. This study aimed to evaluate muscle fatigue of brick field workers.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on transportation sector workers in Pey Dezh Brick Production Company, Golestan, Iran in 2015. In this research, the qualitative of Muscle Fatigue Assessment (MFA) method was used to assess the level of fatigue. Duration of each task and frequency of efforts were determined using the level of effort to obtain a numerical result for comparison with the standard level.
The evaluated task was to remove paired bricks from the conveyor and transfer them to trailer truck by workers. The final results revealed that lower back tolerated the most amount of pressure (score=323), followed by the shoulders and wrist of the right hand (scores=313), which were assigned to the fatigue level. Therefore, the highest total fatigue of workload was imposed on these body parts.
According to the results of this study, the upper limbs of workers incurred the highest burden in lifting bricks, and there was a in risk of WMSDS due to high workload. Therefore, it is recommended that working systems be improved through rotating work and reducing the number of transferred bricks to avoid risks caused by accumulation of fatigue.