Volume 1, No. 2 (2016)
Published online on 1 December 2016
Articles
Mohammad Firdaus ANI1, Seri Rahayu KAMAT1, Athirah GHAZALI1
Page 1 – 9 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
In aerospace industries, many working tasks require their workers to perform the works in push-pull activities. The workers need to push or pull the mould tool in a long distance in to a workplace. Performing these activities continuously throughout the working hours, may lead to an early initiation of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) symptoms as workers developed muscle fatigue particularly concerning the hand muscles. Grip strength is the force applied by the hand to pull objects and is a part of hand strength. Repetitive usage of hands will create an imbalance between closing and opening (antagonist) muscles, which can lead to problem such as carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
The primary purpose of this study was to develop a regression model based on psychophysical and biomechanical factors that contributes to fatigue, in which the models can predict the relationship between the input parameters and output responses. The methodology used for this study focused on three types of data collection which were questionnaire and observation which conducted as the preliminary study to prove the problems that have been stated and experimental was conducted by using surface Electromyography (sEMG) and Tekscan system to evaluate the muscle fatigue and hand grip pressure force of the Lay-up workers who were performing push activity…
Seri Rahayu KAMAT1, Norhidayah HASHIM1, Isa HALIM1, Mohd Shahrizan OTHMAN1, Mohammad Firdaus ANI1
Page 10 – 15 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
In the new era of world industrialization, ergonomics plays an important role to improve occupational safety and health, and productivity in most industries including an aerospace industry. However, the manufacturing industry in Malaysia does not put any priority on ergonomics awareness, for an example, by not selecting a suitable height of workstation with operators’ anthropometry. Ergonomics so far has litle impact in Malaysia as majority of the Malaysian managers had believed that the ergonomics is not considered to be associated with performance. In a recent study on ergonomics awareness in Malaysian manufacturing industries by Mustafa et al., (2009), the researchers discovered that the main factors for the lack of ergonomics awareness were the lack of information/education/training and no pressure from the top management to initiate the ergonomics programmes. As a consequence, operators are exposed to various ergonomic risk factors and prone to have ergonomic injuries. The objective of this study was to reduce the maximum effort level of lumbar muscles of operators by changing the height of workstation using suitable anthropometry among operators….
Ardalan SHARIAT1, *, Shamsul Bahri Mohd TAMRIN1, Mahmoud DANAEE2
Page 16 – 21 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Lower back, neck and shoulder pain are the most prevalent musculoskeletal problems affecting office workers worldwide. Several hypotheses regarding the underlying mechanisms and the maintenance behind office work-related musculoskeletal disorders have been presented. There is some evidence, based on epidemiological studies as well as studies upon smaller groups of subjects, that individuals who sit and work for a long time not only show cognitive impairment at the workplace, but also suffer from poorer and fragmented daytime sleep, in addition to increased risks of developing various psychological, physiological and medical impairments and musculoskeletal disorders. The related physical mechanisms behind musculoskeletal disorders are discussed in the context of new findings. The main causes, as well as varying levels in severity of musculoskeletal disorders, not to mention the link between such disorders in the neck, shoulder and lower back regions and physical activity among office workers are also stated. The main objective of this review paper is to conduct a systematic review to identify musculoskeletal disorders and how these disorders are correlated with physical activity among office workers. The results of this review indicate that the musculoskeletal disorder is a critical issue among office workers and the main cause is related to the absence of physical activity as well as the subjects’ sedentary lifestyle.
Muhammad Syafiq SYED MOHAMED1, Chin Pow, OOI2
Page 22 – 28 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Driver distraction is becoming a growing concern in Malaysia since in vehicle electronic devices are becoming more common in cars. Among the technologies being installed in cars is Heads Up Display (HUD). HUDs are meant to help drivers to focus their attention towards the forward roadway while driving by providing a simplistic display of speed and car navigation while driving. In this study, a Kansei Engineering approach is used to translate the usability requirements for HUD interfaces. A new HUD interface design was developed based on important features such as digital speed indicator, speed limit sign, as well as the indicator for the next turning.
Muhamad Hafiz ZABIDI1, Ammar ADNAN1, Radin Zaid RADIN UMAR2, Siby SAMUEL3, Mohd Hanafi ANI1, Malek HAMID1, *
Page 29 – 38 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Improper riding behavior is one of the leading contributors for road crashes. Not wearing helmet, speeding, riding during fatigue and sleepy, and improper procedure during merging in traffic are among the poor behaviors of motorcyclists. For this study, improper merging behavior is the focus.
The objectives of the study are: (i) to evaluate motorcyclists head check behavior during merging in traffic; (ii) to evaluate the differences of motorcyclists head check behavior during merging in traffic with different environments – highway and town (with and without U-turn situations). A naturalistic observation study was done where 1091 motorcyclists were observed at eight locations (scenarios) – four of highway road environment, two of town with U-turn environment, and two of town without U-turn environment. The dependent variable is the percentage of head checks. If a motorcyclist performs head check towards the target zone (the area in which the potential hazard may merge – at the entering road) while in the launch zone (the area where a motorcyclist should turn his or her head to the target zone – on the leaving road), he or she was scored one, else he or she was scored zero.
Muhammad Izzat Nor MA’AROF1, Abdul Rahman OMAR2, Zamalia MAHMUD2, Nasir SENIN3
Page 39 – 47 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Motorcycle riding posture has generally been documented to be ergonomically unfitting for human. This is because the human operator is mostly seated at static with minimal sitting support and without a backrest. Thus, it is emphasized that there is a link between motorcycling riding posture (motorcycle ergonomics) with motorcycle road accidents. The objective of this study was to identify the best riding posture for motorcycling based on a survey study. The significance of this study was to investigate the public perception on the best motorcycling riding posture. A survey research with 30 healthy motorcyclists (between the ages of 18 – 25 years old) from diverse backgrounds via questionnaire was conducted. The data was analyzed via the Statistical Package Service and Solution (SPSS) with the statistic for level of confidence at 95% (1.96), expected proportion (in proportion of one) at 0.5 and the precision (in proportion of one) at 0.1 (due to the limitation of resources). For greater grasp of understanding in regards to the results obtained, veteran motorcyclists (above 14 years of riding experience) were also consulted.
Ezrin Hani SUKADARIN1, Tan Zhen SHENG1, Junaidah ZAKARIA1, Fazrina SALLEH1 and Khairul Amri Abdul AZIZ2
Page 48 – 52 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Temperature may negatively affects human performance rate and human physical response if it is not properly controlled. Effects of temperature on task performance and its contribution to the occurrence of thermal comfort had been a major focus in hundreds of studies. However, until now inconsistent results were yielded from those studies. This paper presents the literature review of the researches on the effects of temperature on task performance. To gain better understanding, thermal comfort issue and task performance also have been reviewed. Conclusively, there are some researches which have proved that the variations in temperature levels can affect task performance and thermal comfort, while some researchers disagreed with the finding.
Ammar ADNAN1, Roya LATIFI1, Shamsul Bahri MOHD TAMRIN1, Yee Guan NG1, Khairul Nazri ABD WAHIB1, Ahmad Rizal ABDUL RAHMAN2, Shahriman ABU BAKAR3
Page 53 – 57 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
Personal protective equipment or PPE is important to protect the user against safety or health risks at work. In oil palm plantation, safety helmet is one of the important PPE to protect against falling object or impact. The aim of this study was to gather data regarding the knowledge, attitude and practice on the usage of safety helmet among oil palm workers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 178 workers in two oil palm plantation located in Melaka, Malaysia. A set of questionnaires was used to collect data on socio-demographic, safety information, knowledge, attitude and practice on the usage of safety helmet. Based on the descriptive analysis, results indicate that the workers lack in knowledge, attitude and practice of the safety helmet used. Thus, intervention program on usage of safety helmet should be carried out to increase safety awareness among the workers.
Ahmed ALIBRAHIM1, Shamsul BMT1, Nasser ALSSABANI2, Yee Guan NG1, Nazri OMAR3, Faisal SHAIKH1
Page 58 – 63 | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2016) | Available online on 1 Dec 2016
The fishermen in the coastal region of Jazan are subjected to long working hours in the sun where the risk for cataract, climatic droplet keratopathy (CDK) and Eyelid diseases due to solar radiation are high. The objective of this study to determine the prevalence of anterior segment eye disorders, specifically cataract, CDK and eyelid diseases among fishermen in Jazan and examination of its association with the sociodemographic and occupational among fishermen in Jazan. This study employed a cross-sectional design conducted in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia. A total of 511 fishermen were included in the study. All the respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire and subsequently undergone an eye examination. The prevalence of the cataract was found to be 3.3 %, CDK, 0.4 % and the eyelid diseases affecting 3.2 % of the respondents. A significant association was seen between the prevalence of anterior segment eye disorders (p<0.05). Overall, CDK for fishermen with less than five days of work per week was found to be 75 % while for fishermen with more than five days of work per week the CDK was found to be 25 %. The overall eyelid disease on the other hand was found in all the respondents with over five days of work per week…