Ergonomic Redesign and Evaluation of Ice Hook in Ice Block Manufacturing

摘要

While the foremost objective of ergonomic intervention research is the development and/or improvement of machine, tools, work methods, etc. which aim at risk reduction of work-related illnesses and injuries, intermediate steps are often required to illustrate the effectiveness and efficacy of the interventions. In this present study, the redesign rotated ice hook is made and laboratory evaluation is performed to demonstrate the efficiency of new design specifically to reduce non-neutral as well as extreme wrist postures in four fundamental wrist movements; flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction. Evaluation was conducted in two sessions, simulated lifting task performed within laboratory and actual use at a real workplace. The quantitative results (i.e. the level of wrist angles) indicating a significant reduction in the biomechanical stresses identified as percentage of time spending in both non-neutral and extreme range of motion. In conclusion, the redesign hook resulted in ranged between 70% and 100% reduction of time spending in non-neutral wrist posture under laboratory session and from 24% to 90% reduction in the real workplace Time reduction of wrist spending under extreme posture found to be 100% for both testing sessions. More in depth follow-up field assessments are anticipated to further evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions and to begin the assessment of the potential effect of the intervention.