Assessment of Rapid Entire Body Assessment (reba) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (rula) applicability in ergonomics risk assessment. Case study ZPC Hwange expansion project Sherwood Block · Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author

Mugwagwa Tapiwa T

Title

Assessment of Rapid Entire Body Assessment (reba) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (rula) applicability in ergonomics risk assessment. Case study ZPC Hwange expansion project Sherwood Block

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Assessment of rapid entire body assessment (REBA) and rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) applicability in ergonomic risk assessment A fundamental understanding of ergonomic hazards at work is essential for preventing work-related musculoskeletal injuries. A descriptive cross-sectional study was used in this research. A sample consisting of 112 workers from Synohdro Company, from the 5 main departments: bricklaying, carpentry, concreting workers and scaffolding, participated in answering semi-structured questionnaires to determine the prevalence of muscular-skeletal disorders (MSDs) and were selected for postural analysis using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The majority of the subjects—100 out of 112 (89.29%)—reported having aches, pains, or body discomfort in various parts of their body, indicating a high prevalence of work-related MSD symptoms. What follows is a summary of the survey that was made on site: back pain 65%, neck pain 25%, shoulder pain 55%, upper back 23%, wrist and hand 15%, knees 20%, and ankles and feet 8%. RULA and REBA tools were both easily and effectively applicable for postural risk assessment at Sherwood B, having the advantage of being more versatile and less expensive in terms of time. Both RULA and REBA allow for the calculation of a numeric index that represents the quantitative value of the risk to which the worker is exposed during the target work, as well as the determination of the priority level of interventions and actions required. The higher the congruence between the RULA and REBA evaluations, the more they confirmed similar results from other investigations in the industries.

Date

JUNE 2024

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Keywords: Prevalence, Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders, RULA, REBA, Risk Factors.

Supervisor

NIL