Assessing the Effectiveness of Ergonomics Practices in Selected Workplaces in Port Harcourt,Nigeria

摘要

The study was carried out to determine the level of ergonomics awareness and the level of implementation/ practice of ergonomics is selected workplaces in Port Harcourt.Ergonomics should be major emphasis at the workplace in designing of task to fit to the workers capabilities.Problems associated with major activities include extreme temperatures,noise,slippery surfaces,manual handling,exposures of carrying,lifting,lowering,forceful pushing and heavy pulling of tasks leading to occupational diseases.Collections of primary data were by means of questionnaires administration to 150 persons,amongst the number distributed 120 questionnaires were retrieved.42 from Exploration and Production,38 from Oil and Gas Servicing,and 40 from manufacturing industry representing a response rate of 80%.20 questions were designed as questionnaire parameters; the first 10 are to assess the level of ergonomics awareness amongst workers in 3 selected workplaces in Port Harcourt,while the second 10 are to evaluate the ergonomics implementation/practice in three selected workplaces in Port Harcourt.The responses are rated strongly agree(4),agree(3),disagree(2)and strongly disagree(1).The approach was necessary to facilitate the evaluation of Kendall's coefficient of concordance(W),that is,the degree of agreement amongst the respondents.The results revealed on the average,an appreciable level(75%)of awareness and(53%)level of ergonomics implementation/practice amongst the respondents,respectively.Lack of awareness on static loading as a risk factor in ergonomics,non-availability of good fitting thermal gloves to help with cold conditions,noisy machines not being isolated,non-availability of lumbar support chairs(adjustable task chairs),and finally,not conducting health examination surveillance on workers periodically are the gaps identified.Kendall's analysis revealed a high degree of agreement amongst the respondents on both ergonomics awareness(0.74)and ergonomics implementation/practice(0.99),respectively.Thus,the study recommends more ergonomics trainings on workers,provision of lumbar cushions,isolation of noisy machines,provision of good fitting thermal gloves and periodic health examinations on workers.