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Re-design and Ergonomic Assessment of a Handcrafted Kalash Polishing Equipment
Journal
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
ISSN
23673370
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Author(s)
Mallampalli, Krishna Chaitanya
Pal, Swati
Abstract
In India, the handicraft industry is one of the important and export-oriented industries. In this industry, around six million handicraft workers were engaged, and their activities were mostly manual in nature. Polishing activity is one of the most essential activities in handicraft manufacturing. Polishing handcrafted Kalash is a traditional activity performed by the polisher of the Hajo brass metal cluster, Assam, India. These polishers perform this traditional activity using conventional polishing equipment in squatting positions for long hours, which requires enormous physical effort. Due to this uncomfortable situation, polishers have exposure to risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The present study, therefore, interviewed forty polishers regarding MSDs using the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ). It was revealed that the disorders in the lower back, upper back, and elbows were prevalent among polishers. Further, postural analysis was conducted in Kinovea software. Using existing polishing equipment resulted in postural discomfort. Thus following the focus group discussions with the polishers, the existing polishing equipment was re-designed virtually in CATIA V5 software. Assessment of working posture in both the existing and re-designed equipment was carried out using the rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) tool. The results of RULA analysis showed that the working posture in re-designed polishing equipment was improved noticeably. Therefore, based on these preliminary findings, it is concluded that the ergonomically re-designed polishing equipment in the handcrafted Kalash polishing activity could reduce MSDs among polishers and makes the workplace comfortable.
Volume
391
Subjects