Working posture analysis of sweet whey powder handling at CV Cita Nasional warehouse using OVAKO Working Posture Analysis (OWAS)

Abstract

In this 4.0 industrial era, some material handlings are still conducted manually by human. One example is in the warehouse area of CV Cita Nasional, a milk processing factory in Kopeng, Central Java. Workers are repetitively unloading a 25 kg sack of sweet whey powder from truck to warehouse area. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the musculoskeletal disorders risks on that workers manual handling activity. The OVAKO Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) was chosen to be applied in the evaluation steps. For each activity in the unloading process, OWAS score category of 3 (improvements are necessary as soon as possible) were resulted on lifting, 2 (improvements are necessary in the long-term future) on carrying, and 3 on lowering the load. Consequently, a trolley was then designed to minimize the risks. The trolley was designed based on Indonesian anthropometry dimensions. Applying this proposed tool, lifting and lowering activities were then categorized in OWAS score of 2, whilst carrying was resulted in OWAS score of 1 (improvements are not necessary). This applied study was valuable in order to minimize the musculoskeletal disorders risks on such manual material handling activity, not only in the current workplace, but also in similar situation of industries.