Investigation of Work Load and Work Ability by Aging of Automobile Assembly Workers

초록

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the work ability and work load of automobile assembly workers according to age. Background: Previous studies indicated that self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms for assembly line workers corresponded to 38% and 14% relative to the shoulder and lower arm. As age increases, physical and mental abilities begin to decline. Reduced physical and mental abilities affect work capacity and workload. Decrease in work capacity due to aging affects production and quality as well as safety and health. Workers working on automobile assembly lines have high physical and mental demands. Therefore, efforts should be made to evaluate and manage the work ability and workload of the worker. Method: This study was conducted on 107 workers working in the automobile assembly line. In this study, we used the Work Ability Index (WAI) developed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) in Finland to assess the work capacity of workers. The QEC (Quick Exposure Check) tool developed in the UK was used to analyze workload differences among workers. Results: Workers in automobile assembly line has a high work load in all tasks due to repetitive work and awkward working postures. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean work ability score according to age, but the individual difference (deviation) was found to be large with increasing age. There was no statistically significant difference in the exposure ratio according to age, but the individual difference (deviation) with respect to the work load was found to be larger with age. In addition, the higher the age, the more the number of subjective workloads for immediate improvement. Conclusion: Aging can affect production and quality as well as safety and health. Physiological changes due to age increase are very natural phenomena and can not be blocked by change, but the decrease width and timing can be controlled by effort. In order to do this, it is necessary to accurately grasp and measure work items that can be unreasonable to workers through job analysis. Efforts should be made to develop and apply engineering and management improvement measures by evaluating the identified work items according to ergonomic evaluation criteria and deriving improvement items. Application: The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for worker management of automobile assembly lines.

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