Future research on manual lifting tasks in the automotive industry

ABSTRACT

It is known that lifting tasks are one of the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in the automotive industry. Extensive research has been carried out over the years to develop guidelines and determine safe limits in which an individual can lift. For this reason, the objective of this study is to determine the significant risk factors of musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive industry, and propose a methodological framework for future research on manual lifting tasks. The subjects of this study comprise 211 manual material handling workers from the automotive industry. The subjects completed a set of questionnaires which are used to elicit information on their demographic characteristics, as well as physical factors and the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. The Chi-Square test was used to determine the relationship between the risk factors and musculoskeletal discomfort. The findings of the study show that the following postures (trunk bent slightly forwards, hands above the knee level (p < 0.05), trunk twisted (over 45o) and bent sideways (p < 0.05) are the significant risk factors of musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive industry. A methodological framework on manual lifting task in the automotive industry is proposed based on the findings of this study. The framework is developed based on the need to model human lifting capabilities so that task demands can be designed to fit the workers’ capacity when performing lifting tasks.