Postural analysis in the Mezican industry: an application of OWAS method.
Since long years ago Mexico is a country with workers health high risk levels. According to Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS, according to its designation in Spanish) from 1993 to 2003 there was a considerable increase in work related illness and permanent inability to work due to those. Among the ten most frequent causes of permanent inability to work, five were identified and related with musculoskeletal injuries caused by bad work conditions, among these, mainly lifting and inappropriate postures. Posture is the body position carrying work activities out. It is widespread that given a greater deviation from natural posture, greater risk of physical damage. Postures that move away from natural postures are called inappropriate or awkward postures. Some specific postures have been associated with musculoskeletal lesions and damages. The objective of this study was to identify and quantify the presence of postural risks in workplaces at a sampling of plants representing different industrial sectors within the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara, Mexico, and propose some alternatives to reduce and prevent the presence of musculoskeletal injuries. A total of 67 workplaces were evaluated. For the evaluations we used the OWAS method. The results show awkward postures to be present in almost all evaluated jobs. More than 48％ of the observed working postures were classified as falling into categories 2-4 of the OWAS, what it suggests high levels of stress postural that might cause musculoskeletal injuries. The observed postures showed that the higher risk values were for incorrect back postures, above all for postures involving bending. Most of identified stressful postures were caused both for a workstation wrong arrangement and an inappropriate work method. Applying the OWAS method was useful for identifying tasks with ergonomic risk in these jobs. The results of this study suggest that ergonomic intervention with the purpose of preventing or reducing WMDs is urgent, and that many awkward postures may be reduced through workplace redesign and with an appropriate work method. It is proposed to use an ergonomics recommendations manual which could reduce considerably postural risk factors. Beyond this assessment, the results could be useful to accumulate scientific arguments to support the establishment of occupational health legislation, specifically in the field of ergonomics in Mexico to prevent such injuries.
Rosalío (á)vila-Chaurand Lilia R. Prado-León Carlos Aceves-González
Ergonomic Research Center, University of Guadalajara, Extremo Norte de la Calzada Independencia, Hue Ergonomic Research Center, University of Guadalajara, Extremo Norte de la Calzada Independencia, Hue
国际会议
17th World Congress on Ergonomics(第十七届国际人类工效学大会)
北京
英文
1-5
2009-08-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）