An Ergonomic Analysis of the Traditional Sorbetes Cart

Abstract

Sorbetes, also known as ‘dirty’ ice cream, is one of the goods that have been sold on the streets of Metro Manila. Known for its colorful and unique cart design, people usually buy sorbetes because of its distinct taste and affordable price. Sorbetes vendors may be subjected to a huge amount of stress, causing them to experience pain on several parts of their body, because of the improper posture when using the cart. However, there is a lack of research on sorbetes peddling that could give basis to ensure that the cart design is ergonomic. Thus, this study aims to conduct an ergonomic analysis of the sorbetes cart and come up with solutions that may lessen the discomfort that vendors have grown accustomed to. Using Nordic Questionnaire, 15 sorbetes vendors were asked to identify which among their body parts are perceiving discomfort. Rapid Entire Body Assessment was conducted to assess their posture for each activity, and identify their risk for Musculoskeletal Disorders. This yielded a REBA score of 5 for all vendors when pushing/pulling the cart, and a range of 6–10 for scooping sorbetes – which entails medium and high risk, respectively. Moreover, it was identified that body parts with high prevalence of pain were more driven by poor posture in scooping, rather than pushing. In conclusion, few of the aspects of the cart (i.e. cart weight, handle design, canister’s depth, handle distance) must be modified to reduce the vendors’ REBA score and the discomfort that they experience.