Reducing musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk of wiring harness workstation using workplace ergonomic risk assessment (WERA) method

Abstract

Bureau of Labor Statistics in Indonesia notes that musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is the main category of injury causes in workplaces leading to 30% compensation costs. The purpose of this paper was to know the risk of work position of wire harness companies using workplace ergonomic risk assessment (WERA) for basic workstation improvements. The first step of this research was studying the literature of MSD, work posture, work position, and WERA. It subsequently proceeded with the identification and assessment process using WERA on each type of wiring harness activity. From the research results, it was obtained three jobs indicated causing muscle injury and soreness namely torque job, grommet job, and offline job. Moreover, the problem was supported by complaints from most workers known by using a discomfort survey. Based on the problem, this research was conducted to find out the action levels with WERA method and give improvement recommendation to overcome the problem of musculoskeletal disorders. The results of WERA showed that torque, grommet, and offl ine jobs needed further investigation and improvement with the scores of 31.23, 28.87, and 30.9. Recommendations were then given in the form of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the risk factor scores on contract stress, to provide a new workstation design of torque job, and to add aids for solving other pain problems.