A Case Study: Risk Work Practices With Slips and Falls Potential Among Food Production Workers in SME Industry
Sharifah Aznee SYED ALI1, 2, Seri Rahayu KAMAT2, Kalthom Husin3

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic of Port Dickson, KM14 Jalan Pantai, 71050 SiRusa, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

2 Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.

3 Faculty of Education, International Islamic University College, Bandar Seri Putra, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

Page 44 – 50   |   Vol. 3 No. 2 (2018)   |    Available online on 1 Dec 2018

Abstract

Food production workstation is one of the most risky areas and equipped with different tools and materials which potentially to slip and fall accidents. The aim of this study is to analyse the discomfort working body posture and activities in small medium enterprise (SME) food industry, which contributes to slip and fall accidents. Forty workers at least one-year experience working in food SME industry were involved. A quantitative and qualitative method using survey through questionnaire and observation were utilized to identify workers’ experience in the food production workstation. RULA assessment was used to validate the instrument focusing on specific body discomfort or pain. The results indicated that seven critical activities of the food production workstation contributed to high RULA score of 7. The findings from this study yielded that minimizing the work shift was necessary to reduce the effect of prolonged standing. Workers who experienced prolonged standing would lead to fatigue and this condition triggered the potential to slip and fall hazard. Determining the best practices during work is useful for SME food industry in terms of limitation angle of the working posture, manual handling and suitable workstation. The outcome can be a guideline to the food service industries for precaution on the safety and health matters in the workstation.

Keywords

Posture, Standing, Food production, RULA Score, Slips and fall.

Acknowledgement

Authors would like to thank the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka and Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education for support of this work under the Research Grant Scheme (03/S01369).

© 2022 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFEM). All rights reserved.

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