Analysis of posture and discomfort feelings of grinders in different foundries in West Bengal

Background: The most essential part of manufacturing the products is grinding. Health and safety of workers are the most important issues in this unit now a days. High productivity as well as maximum turnover is the highest interest of these units. Target oriented work puts some pressure on the workers that also increase their muscular and body stresses.  Methods: The research work was done in different small-scale grinding units in West Bengal. The snap shot of 20 workers in different grinding units was obtained and evaluated with the help of rapid upper limb assessment. NIOSH’s discomfort survey method was used for mapping the different areas of pain, dissatisfactions during the operation. Heart rate and postural stresses were also noticed.  Results: This research work also shows that the poor working conditions enhance the body stresses and the discomfort level of grinders. The highest heart rate also indicates the poor health condition of grinders. Poor environmental conditions, specially noise and heat were common in grinding units.  Conclusions: It can be concluded that MSDs were present in the activities carried out in grinding units where the major number of workers were involved in bad body postures. This research work also shows that the poor working conditions enhance the body stresses and the discomfort level of grinders.