The ergonomic posture assessment by comparing REBA with RULA & OWAS: A case study in a gas springs factory

Abstract

Occupational health and safety are the most valuable assets for any firm. The hazards that may occur in the workplace should be analysed and studied to minimize the possibility of their incidence. WMSDs (Work-related Musculo Skeletal Disorders) injuries are one of the most common accidents that happen in the workplace in some countries exceeding 40% of the total types of accidents. Thus, many techniques like REBA were innovated to analyse the risks leading to these kinds of injuries. This article studies and analyses 15 postures ergonomically in detail to cover all the working stations in a Gas Springs factory in Türkiye. This high number of postures with real-life cases from a developing country such as Türkiye can be considered an essential contribution to this field. Classical REBA and the REBA calculator are used in the application as tools and methods. Additionally, a comparison between REBA results with RULA and OWAS results for each posture is provided. The application showed that 53.33% of the postures’ results were medium-level risks. This percentage displays that the workers aren’t at a very dangerous risk level, but executives still should take action to reduce the risk level. This study aims to understand REBA and its importance. The article also shows how to apply Classical REBA step by step and how to use the REBA calculator. Finally, the outputs of this article should be beneficial practically and theoretically. It would be practical for the factory to develop the working stations according to the suggestion and theoretically for researchers to build new studies on it.

Keywords

• OWAS
• REBA
• RULA
• WMSDs

References

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