Ergonomics and manual handling workplace improvement: a case study of firefighter at Pagoh

Firefighter are constantly at risk since they are directly exposed to various physical factors, harmful chemicals and mental stress during rescue and fire-fighting. In fire extinguishing, unstable posture is one of the possible hazardous factors and contribute to high ergonomic risk factor. Due t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mahmood, Salwa, Nasir, Siti Hana, Mamat, Norashid, Abdul Rahman, Ismail, Azis, Noorul Azreen
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7231/
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/7231/1/P13880_6e986c8cf3898aeeabec3070a6082cd2.pdf
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Summary:Firefighter are constantly at risk since they are directly exposed to various physical factors, harmful chemicals and mental stress during rescue and fire-fighting. In fire extinguishing, unstable posture is one of the possible hazardous factors and contribute to high ergonomic risk factor. Due to manual handling and lack of proper standard operation procedure, firefighter are at risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders problem such as awkward postures. This paper identify ergonomics risk factor that may cause harm to firefighter during rolling of fire hose. This study was conducted in Pagoh fire station. In order to achieve those aims, observational method was used by applying Ergonomic Risk Assessment (ERA).The Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method is used by calculating the severity, occurrence and failure detection which has rating score from one (1) to ten (10). Then, the risk priority number (RPN) was calculated to get the highest priority number which led to identification of ergonomic risk factor. A set of questionnaire was distributed to 20 firefighter located at Pagoh fire station for analyzing the ergonomic risk factor and compared to the FMEA result. The result of the analysis shows 56% of the respondent experienced awkward posture during handling of fire hose. The result of the questionnaire was compared to the highest RPN value from FMEA to obtain the solution on ergonomic workplace improvement at Pagoh fire station. In addition, a new tool that is expected to improve the ergonomic and manual handling of firefighter was proposed.