Open AccessA Study of Postural Safety and Low-Cost Electromyography (EMG) Device Towards Grocery Workers in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak
Author(s) -
Mohd Azrin Mohd Said
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of engineering and science research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2289-7127
DOI - 10.26666/rmp.jesr.2020.4.1
Subject(s) - electromyography , physical medicine and rehabilitation , manual handling , back muscles , physical therapy , back injury , medicine , engineering , operations management
Body posture is one of the most important parts when lifting an object as it can causes injury if the wrong technique and body posture were used. A worker will injure their low back if a bad posture is not in consideration. A good body posture is recommended among workers to reduce the chance of injury while lifting and improve their postural safety. The main objectives of this study are to observe the body posture of the worker during lifting and study the comparison of using lower back support when lifting. It also investigates the muscle activity of the worker during heavy lifting using EMG and simulates the worker's movement using CATIA Software for Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) results. The selected grocery was chosen in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak with 7 male respondents are identified to undergo this study. The results show that the worker with lower back support tends to show raw EMG signal with lower muscle activity compared to without using lower back support. Thus, using belt support can reduce muscle activity by up to 67.4% compare to not wearing back support. Raw EMG signals also show 3010 amplitude (mV) muscle activity if postural safety of the workers improved by following the NIOSH lifting Recommendations.