Ergonomic analysis in an animal feed company: demands and work environment

Abstract

The ergonomic evaluation of work aims to care for the health of the worker and instruct the preparation of a work project capable of increasing the productivity of the company. The aims was to perform an ergonomic analysis of an animal feed company, based on the perception of the workers and the opinion of ergonomics experts. The study was based on the ergonomic assessment phase of the Macroergonomic Work Analysis (MWA), using tools such as the method of Macroergonomic Design (MD) and the Discomfort Questionnaire (DQ). The general perception of the workers was satisfaction with the environment, organization and content of work. Some complaints were reported as noise with mean 5.57 (M=5.57), temperature (M=5.27), and the presence of aerodispersoids in the workplace environment (M=5.02). In work organization, the unloading (M=2.87), loading (M=4.27) and maintenance (M=5.99) sectors showed low satisfaction levels as to the number of employees performing the tasks. The workers reported low perception of discomfort (M=0.46), but in each sector there were some complaints of pain in certain body parts. The study showed that the collaborative dynamic of the workers, as is defined in the MWA method, together with the application of the MD and DQ tools, was sufficient in the construction of an ergonomic diagnosis to instruct a work project for the company.