Types of manual materials handling (MMH) and occupational incidents and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in motor vehicle parts manufacturing (MVPM) industry

Abstract The motor vehicle parts manufacturing (MVPM) works include various types of manual materials handling (MMH). This study analyzes occupational incidents and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by MMH in the MVPM industry. Also, this study conducted a risk assessment for predicting the possibility and severity of the injuries and MSDs. This study examined 236 injured persons registered for occupational incidents and MSDs caused by MMH tasks. Of the 236 injuries, 124 (52.5%) were caused by lifting/lowering, followed by 92 (39.0%) pushing/pulling and 20 (8.5%) carrying. MSDs were the highest at 36.9%, followed by struck by (22.9%), caught in (19.5%), and slip/fall (9.7%) incidents. In the case of incidents, the percentage caused by pushing/pulling was the highest at 55.7%, followed by lifting/lowering (35.6%) and carrying (8.7%). However, in the case of MSDs, the percentage caused by lifting/lowering was the highest at 81.6%, followed by pushing/pulling (10.3%) and carrying (8.0%). However, the rate of severe injured with over 180 work-loss days was higher in carrying works, women, or older workers over 50 years. The highest prevalence of MSDs was low back (63.2%), followed by shoulders (17.2%), and arm/hand regions (16.1%). In risk assessment according to the work process, ‘struck by incidents during pushing/pulling carts in the logistics process’ is the most possible and the highest average of work-loss days. Relevance to industry This study presents the overview of actual nationwide compensation records occurred during MMH tasks in the MVPM industry. Also, this study shows the outlines of occupational incidents and MSDs, and the most possible and severe incident according to the types of MMH and work process.