Development of an Ergonomic risk assessment Tool for foundry environment

Abstract

Manufacturing sector is the life line for continuous growth of any newlineCountry Though this sector provides ample employment opportunities newlinenevertheless some of these activities are physically intensive and carried out newlinemanually At the same time global competition in manufacturing sector newlinedemands higher productivity levels Hence occupational ill health and workrelated newlinedisorders are predominant in manufacturing industries due to the newlineinevitable presence of manual work even after several waves of industrial newlineautomation and technological advancements Under these circumstances newlineergonomic based studies are becoming more and more relevant Foundry is newlineone such manufacturing sector where the manual work is still dominant and newlinemany activities are probable sources of job strain Since many western newlinecountries are outsourcing their foundry activities to India it is becoming newlinehome for several foundry clusters In this context the present study attempts to newlineunderstand and assess the predominance severity and effects of occupational newlinehealth hazards that are present in Indian foundry environment Though several newlinetools exist for assessing occupational risks they are domain specific can newlinehandle single task at a time and working environment is not considered This newlinelimitation further motivates the present work newline newline