Ergonomic Intervention on the Occupational Stress of Selective Railway Workshop’s Fitters

Abstract

In India, progressively rigorous health, safety and environmental regulation, together with rapid technological advances have caused job demands of man machine interface. Any deviations in implementing rules and regulations leave many workers at severe risks. In different railway workshops where periodic overhauling (POH) of different coaches and locomotives are obtained, the exhaustive nature of work results strain within the workers. Unfortunately physiological work studies on railway workers are highly inadequate in India. The present study is aimed to relate the ergonomic intervention on the occupational stress of railway workshop’s fitters. Working heart rate (WHR) is measured continuously during their work schedule by portable heart rate monitor. Recovery heart rate and other essential occupational stress indexes are also measured along with total working environmental details. The working heart rate (WHR) of the subjects are found as 138 beats/min (bpm) and 121 bpm for the junior (age 40 years), respectively. Net cardiac cost (NCC) and relative cardiac cost (RCC) values exhibit their range in a non-safe zone. No recovery in resting heart rate denotes the hostile environmental effect on the worker’s physiology. The effective temperature (ET) and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of work site cross the recommended value. Clear evidences of a direct relationship between occupational hazard and fatigue is found and it can be considered as an environmental stresses which, in conjunction with other environmental and host factors induced a chronic fatigue that lead to non-specific health disorders.