Musculoskeletal disorder risk levels in mobile crane operators: An ergonomic assessment

Abstract

Mobile Crane operations involve a lot of challenges and these operators face musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) which has been one of the rising critical concerns for the operators as well as for the management. MSDs are severe in nature and can adversely impact the health of operators and if not managed properly, it may result in from partial disablement to permanent disablement which leads to their discontinuity in jobs and ultimately leads to the loss of their careers. The purpose of this study is to establish the MSDs risk levels amongst the mobile crane operators. This work has been carried out with the deployment of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires (CMDQ) with the thirty operators of mobile cranes with ages ranging from 21 years to 59 years. The results revealed that mobile crane operators faced the highest MSDs risk level in the lower back (42.89 %) and very little MSDs risk level in the left upper arm (0.10 %). The results of the study further revealed that 83.33 % of operators (25 out of 30) reported disorders in the lower back one to two (1–2 times) per week and above and 60 % of operators (18 out of 30) reported moderate and above. Because of this, 46.66 % (14) operators felt slightly and 13.33 % (4) operators felt substantially interfered with their capacity to work. The results have indicated and concluded that the seat of operators has an important role in gauging MSDs amongst the mobile crane operators.