Ergonomics assessments and intervention for shaping process of shrimp pastes production in small and medium enterprises

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are often the core pillar of an economy. Therefore, there is a need for implementation of safety practices in SMEs. One of the reason and still lack of awareness is ergonomics problems. In this case study, a foodbased industry in SMEs, specifically in shrimp pastes production which involved the repetitive movements of parts of body throughout daily production period. The first objective of this study is to identify evaluates and assess the ergonomics issues in shrimp paste production. Two SME companies were chosen for this study. Methods include Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), direct observation, interview, initial Ergonomics Risk Assessment (ERA) and Occupational Repetitive Actions (OCRA) were applied in this study. Based on NMQ and initial ERA results, it showed that one of the process in shrimp paste production called shaping process caused problems, for example muscle fatigue and hand numbness to the workers. Advance Ergonomics Risk Assessment (ERA) called OCRA was used to assess the risk based on two voluntarily workers involved in the shaping process from both enterprises. It comprises of two assessments which are OCRA Index and OCRA Checklist. Results of OCRA Index indicate Subject 1 scored the value of 6.0 (medium risk), while Subject 2 scored 2.90 (very low risk), meanwhile, in OCRA Checklist’s result, the score of OCRA Checklist for Subject 1 is 11.43 (light risk) and value of 10.50 for Subject 2. Since the second objective of this study is to reduce or eliminate risk factors, the ergonomics intervention was proposed and implemented. The shrimp pastes presser was designed and fabricated to improve shaping process and reduce the risk. OCRA tool was used to reassess the risk level after the intervention was implemented. As a result, level of risk successfully being reduced using the proposed ergonomics intervention. From OCRA Index for Subject 1, the value of 6.0 (medium risk) had been reduced to 1.65 (acceptable risk), and for Subject 2, the value score of OCRA Index declined from 2.90 (very low risk) to 2.02 (acceptable risk). The result of OCRA Checklist score also showed the positive achievement. The score for Subject 1 from 11.43 (light risk) had been reduced to 5.33 (acceptable risk) and the value of score 10.50 (very low risk) for Subject 2 was reduced to 5.70 (acceptable risk). In conclusion, these results showed that the level of risk in shaping process has been reduced after the implementation of shrimp pastes presser. It can be concluded that this intervention plays crucial role in reducing the level of risk exposed to the workers.