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Abstract
Ergonomics is not normally seen as an important aspect of the production process in small or artisan manufacturing companies. Due to their size, the production process in these small manufacturers is often heavily manual, demanding for many hours of labor which implies intense human participation, high repetitiveness, manual handling of loads, and forced postures, generating unsafe conditions that increase the risk for the development of musculoskeletal disorders. For small businesses, these work-conditions could represent an enormous disadvantage since they could lead to high rotation rates, absenteeism, increases in personnel replacements, rises in cost related to accidents or occupational disease investigations, increases in training costs, that will negatively impact productivity, efficiency, safety, quality, and ultimately the success of the business. This study aimed to evaluate the production process in an artisan brewery in Valdivia, Chile to identify opportunities for improvement based on ergonomics principles. Ergonomic methods such as MAC, REBA, and OCRA were used to identify the critical areas from the ergonomics point-of-view. The critical areas identified were milling, loading, and bottling. Finally, improvement recommendations were proposed to decrease the risk and create a safer and healthier work environment. A unique characteristic of the study is the fact that economic analyses were conducted allowing the owners of the company to see the value (in dollars) of the ergonomic improvements. The economic evaluation was made based on the average number of days away from work compared against the cost of the equipment and/or machines needed for the improvement proposals.
Keywords
Craft brewery, REBA, MAC, OCRA, ergonomic risk assessment.
1.Introduction
Physical ergonomics (also known as traditional ergonomics) study the effects of physical work on the human body [1]. It deals with anthropometric, human anatomy and physiology, individual physical abilities. Physical ergonomic has helped to form the basis in biomechanics as it relates to physical work systems. It has contributed to implementing working conditions that prevent the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and improve the reliability, productivity, and quality of industrial operations [1-3]. In Chile, 47,462 complaints of occupational diseases were registered during 2018 of which 11% were classified as occupational diseases. The highest percentage (43%) corresponds to diagnoses associated with musculoskeletal diseases, highlighting lateral epicondylitis. The majority of workers affected are men (75%) and most...