Ergonomic evaluation of pressurized irrigation equipment factotry operators using an easy posture assessment

One of the most common causes of occupational injuries in industrialized and developing countries is musculoskeletal disorders. Determining the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders can be helpful, choosing the right method for interventions and detailed studies. This study aimed to evaluate the ergonomic risk factors in operators of pressurized irrigation equipment production. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a pressurized irrigation equipment manufacturing company. In this study, a new method based on observation was used to evaluate the ergonomic aspects of operators’ activities. In order to assign tasks and sub-tasks, direct observation and video recording equipment were used. Ergonomic assessment was carried out on all the sub-tasks identified. Then, the criticality of the task was determined. Results: Among the tasks identified, 53 highly critical, 61 critical and 82 lowly critical postures were determined. The ergonomic points in the ball valve production line were 0.6 and 0.68 respectively for tow operators. For drop valve and automatic valve production lines, the ergonomic points were 0.52 and 0.67, respectively. Conclusions: According to the results, the posture analysis method used in this study was easy and accurate. The advantage of this method is 14 ergonomic domains that covered the whole body and time fragment of each task. Findings of previous studies showed good correlation between results from this method and the OCRA method. In this study, The most critical posture was related to operator's wrist; so, it is recommended that control measures on wrist posture correction should be considered. Received: 27.06.2016 Accepted: 11.09.2016