Ergonomic Assessment of Embroidery Operators' Working Postures Through Ovako Working posture Assessment System and The Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire Methods

Abstract

Risk factors that threaten body health are likely to be present mostly in every work environment where human power is utilized. An occupational disease is defined as a state of physical disability arising from the way the work is conducted due to the nature of the work done. While employers ensure that their production flows continuously, they should also take various precautions by conducting scientific methods to protect their operators from occupational diseases. This study was carried out among 34 people working in 3 different embroidery facilities. The working postures of the participants were first examined within OWAS (Ovako Working posture Assessment System) as an observatory method. Afterward, to include the operators’ perceptions, the opinions of the operators were also evaluated through the CMDQ (The Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire). In this way, a multi-faceted evaluation system was implemented via both external observation and internal evaluation. Based on the study findings, relying on the OWAS method, ergonomic measures should be taken as early as possible, mainly in the preparation and collection stages (40.9% and 43.8%), whereas the embroidery process requires these precautions predominantly (42,6%). According to the CMDQ results, male personnel are more likely to suffer from the back, waist, neck, and hip parts of the body. On the other hand, the female personnel reported loading more on the hips, waist, back, and neck parts of their bodies. Although the same body parts are loaded in male and female operators, the discomfort level of these parts differs among the genders.