General Guidelines for Utensil/Clothes Washing Workstation to Reduce Risk of Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Indian Domestic Workers

Domestic work source of livelihood for millions of women all around the world. This occupation remains unorganized, unrecognized and is at high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) for domestic workers. The present study is carried out at Amravati district with the objective to discover the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, identification of important factors responsible for prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among domestic workers involved in utensil and clothes washing work and developing general guidelines for washing workstation design. For this study, participated 120 female domestic workers were selected randomly. The Nordic questionnaire was used to gather information of musculoskeletal symptoms among different body regions and the RULA score sheet was used for assessment of working posture. The result shows that symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders over different body regions were very high compared to the Indian women population who are not involved in such type of occupation (for back, major joints and neck, p<.0001). Chi-square indicates that ergonomic factors (working posture, washing platform height and seat height) are highly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms (P<.001). As per result of chi-square tests, symptoms of musculoskeletal disorder and associated factors are the basis to workstation design guidelines to reduce risk of musculoskeletal disorders for domestic workers. An adjustable prototype workstation was developed by considering workstation guidelines and it observed that domestic workers were satisfied with workstation developed as per guidelines.