Evaluación ergonómica de estibadores y despachadores en las secciones de carga media y pesada de una empresa distribuidora de alimentos mediante software especializado

Abstract

In any company where the human being is the protagonist, contributing with his body the labor force necessary to create a product or service, there is a risk that workers have musculoskeletal injuries, for different reasons: poor position when performing a task, excessive force or poorly applied, lack of necessary tools, uncomfortable or poorly designed job, lack of training, and so on. An injured or sick worker generates delays, decreased production and, above all, extra expenses for the company. It should be noted that new technology has been designed to improve production and more outstanding work tools have also been created, they give great help to the worker, but not all companies are able to obtain them. In our midst we find several companies that are dedicated to the storage and distribution of food and supplies used in homes, as mentioned above, these companies are not exempt from the fact that their workers are at risk of injury. In this context, the research presents an ergonomic evaluation of stevedores and dispatchers in the medium and heavy load sections for a food distribution company using the RULA, REBA and OCRA methods. For this, an observation of the workplace was carried out in a working day, for which a database was implemented in which the angles of the work positions were visualized through the use of a scale model, photographs and videos. A preliminary analysis was carried out to determine the appropriate ergonomic method for dispatchers and stylists. With the aforementioned data, spreadsheets of the RULA, REBA and OCRA ergonomic methods were used, where the qualification and ergonomic risk for a previously calculated population of workers were obtained. From the results obtained, it was concluded that most of the workers have a high risk of injury, for which the implementation of biomechanical tools (exoskeletons) was demonstrated to support the activities carried out in the company.