Development of Drudgery Reducing Tools for the Workers in Food Processing Enterprises

Abstract

Food processing is a drudgery prone activity and exposes the workers to several musculoskeletal discomforts. The present study was conducted to identify the most drudgery prone activities in micro, small and medium scale food processing enterprises and thereafter develop the tools to reduce the drudgery. For testing the feasibility of tools, 15 respondents were selected and they were allowed to work with and without the tool, and their responses were recorded. Results revealed that all the developed tools were acceptable by the respondents on musculoskeletal factors, grip fatigue, physical stress factors, work output factors, tool factors and acceptability factors.