Volume 8 • Issue 3 • 1000233 Research Article Open Access Ayub and Shah, J Ergonomics 2018, 8:3 DOI: 10.4172/2165-7556.1000233 Research Article Open Access Journal of Ergonomics J o u r n a l o f E r g o n o m i c s ISSN: 2165-7556 J Ergonomics, an open access journal ISSN: 2165-7556 Keywords: RULA and QEC comparison; Nordic questionnaire comparison with QEC; Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) risk Abbreviations: WMSD’s: Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders; MSD: Musculoskeletal Disorders; RULA: Rapid Upper Limb Assessment; QEC: Quick Exposure Checklist; NMQ: Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorders Introduction Generally in developing countries, small scale industries employ high percentage of workers as a substitute of automation. Such industries contribute to major economic growth to these countries. Usually, health and safety initiatives for workers are less considerate in such industries [1]. Te understanding and control measures regarding occupational hazards in developing countries is underprivileged [2]. Moreover, uneducated labour in these countries discourages to adapt new technologies. And also local manufacturing industry’s workstation are poorly designed. Most of the time workstations are not designed according to the principles of ergonomics, as a result number of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) are generated among workers. WMSD’s have a signifcant infuence on both labour and industries all over the world [3]. WMSD’s have been recognised a most important problem in European Union in terms health, capital and productivity [4]. Manufacturing industry under study is highly labour intensive. Most of the tasks are being performed manually by the workers. Fitting, folding, pasting, stitching, trimming and cleaning tasks were studied. A typical manufacturing process have highly repetitive tasks, which is performed in sedentary position. Current working conditions in each task results in poor trunk and upper extremities postures. Traditional tools and poor work layout are also contributing to number of WMSD’s among workers in these industries [5]. Te term musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is used to refer to injuries and illness of diferent body parts involved in working. Symptoms of WMSDs in manual handling, prolonged standing and working in awkward posture are very high irrespective of tasks [6]. In manual tasks like pasting, ftting/folding, cleaning, tools and equipment such as hammers and scissors are extensively being used in fashion design industry. Tese tools considered to have poor ergonomic design. Tis study mainly focus manufacturing industry where cutting, pasting, stitching, trimming etc. activities are performed. As shown ftting and folding (Figure 1), pasting (Figure 2), stitching (Figure 3), trimming (Figure 4) and cleaning (Figure 5) shown below. And most of operations are done manually due to which this department is highly labour intensive. For this study, we selected these departments, as we observed more risk factor of WMSDs because majority of the tasks are being performed using traditional hand tools (hammers, scissors etc.) in sedentary posture. Hand tools being used are resulting in cumulative trauma disorders among workers [7]. Te risk of WMSDs among workers with acceptable working posture and enhanced productivity with the usage of minimum resources. Current study is applicable on every industry where manual operations are performed irrespective of its size and nature of job. Tis study was steered to determine the prevalence of WMSD’s and to suggest possible solution for risk reduction among fashion designing industry. It is assumed that the result of this study could be suitable for planning, designing and implementation of ergonomics principles at fashion industry workplace to reduce WMSDs risks. Methodology Participants Study population consisted of shoe and garment manufacturing workers, from leading industries, of Pakistan. Tere were diferent manufacturing lines with 5 diferent types of manual operations *Corresponding author: Yousaf Ayub, Institute of Quality and Technology Management, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, E-mail: myousafayub19@gmail.com Received April 26, 2018; Accepted May 22, 2018; Published May 29, 2018 Citation: Ayub Y, Shah ZA (2018) Assessment of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Manufacturing Industry. J Ergonomics 8: 233. doi: 10.4172/2165- 7556.1000233 Copyright: © 2018 Ayub Y, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Results of study show that experience workers having more reported pain in upper body parts due to poor work station design. This study is focused on measuring the Risks for WMSDs (Work related musculoskeletal disorders) among workers in a manufacturing company, by applying ergonomic tools like QEC (quick exposure checklist), RULA (rapid upper limb assessment) scores and Nordic questionnaire. A cross-sectional study was conducted among workers aged between 18 to 45 years with a total number of 48 workers selected through random sampling with in the duration of 12 weeks. Validated version of QEC, RULA score sheet and Nordic questionnaire was used to measure the risk level and number of reported pain in body parts among workers. The results showed that the mean score of QEC and RULA was 73.6 and 4.6 respectively. However, results showed that experienced workers reported more pain in different body parts, indicating more chances of WMSDs among them. 79% workers of total sample had reported pain in different parts of body according to Nordic questionnaire, out of which 86% workers had pain in upper part and 14% had pain in lower part of the body that was also verifed from QEC and RULA score sheet. Assessment of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Manufacturing Industry Yousaf Ayub* and Zahid Abbas Shah Institute of Quality and Technology Management, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan