Ergonomic Improvement to Reduce the Risk of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDS) in a Furniture Production Workshop

Abstract

The present research work has the purpose of simulating an ergonomic improvement in the furniture production workshop for the areas that show a higher risk of musculoskeletal disorders. In this sense, ergonomics methods and instruments such as the Nordic questionnaire were used to measure the body areas, due to the increase in cases of MSDs related to physical work in the upholstery sector. These disorders develop due to the lack of an adequate ergonomic design and the lack of early identification that prioritizes the well-being of workers. Thus, NIOSH, RULA and OWAS methodologies were applied to evaluate the level of risk and lifting index before and after. These values were contrasted with Ergosoft Pro and 3DSSPP software to validate the design proposal. Thus, the risk level was reduced from a value of 4 to 1 and the uplift index from 3.8 to 0.99. In addition, artificial intelligence was employed through the application of Open Pose to achieve the estimation of the arm angles in real time. © 2023 The authors and IOS Press.