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Development of Risk Assessment System for Sewing Machine Operators

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Ergonomics for Design and Innovation (HWWE 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 391))

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Abstract

The prevalence of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorder in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry is quite common. Due to repetitive actions and subsequent awkward postures, the sewing machine operators are prone to the risk of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders—WMSDs, which results in temporary or permanent disability among the operators. The study aimed to develop a Risk Assessment System that identifies the level of risk factors involved and eventually computing the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) score of each operator. The discrete posture evaluation of the sewing operators was done by tracking the body joints of the operators using their videos while per-forming the tasks. Several socio-demographic, psychological, and work-related details were also factored in through a structured questionnaire for testing and validation. In total 72 videos recorded from either side of different sewing operators, were analyzed at the speed of 30 frames per second. A system was successfully developed by applying various machine learning algorithms to compute the RULA score by extracting the different joint angles of the operators like Neck, Upper and Lower Arm & Trunk directly from the video captured. Such a Risk Assessment System developed shall help in understanding the work conditions operators work in and eventually guide in reducing the risk of WMSDs through precautionary measures against the risk. Other benefits may include productivity enhancement, improving overall health, and reducing the rate of absenteeism, which continues to be a major concern among the factory owners and the Ready-made garment industry, in general.

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Acknowledgements

This research is a part of Graduation Research Project work done at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Jodhpur, India in collaboration with Malviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur, India. The researchers are thankful to Prof. Rajesh Kumar, MNIT, Jaipur for his expert inputs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fashion Technology, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Jodhpur, 342037, India

    Aastha Arora & Manoj Tiwari

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  1. Aastha Arora
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  2. Manoj Tiwari
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Correspondence to Aastha Arora .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Debkumar Chakrabarti

  2. Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Sougata Karmakar

  3. Department of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Urmi R. Salve

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Arora, A., Tiwari, M. (2022). Development of Risk Assessment System for Sewing Machine Operators. In: Chakrabarti, D., Karmakar, S., Salve, U.R. (eds) Ergonomics for Design and Innovation. HWWE 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 391. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94277-9_120

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94277-9_120

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94276-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94277-9

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