Vol. 9, Special Issue 4 (2020)

Author(s):
Ekta Melkani, Manju Mehta and Sudesh Gandhi

Abstract:
Around 70 percent of households in Mangali, a village of Hisar Haryana are run by the activities related to wooden beads. Men are mostly involved in bigger machines constructing beads whereas women’s major work is to compile those beads in strings and make them ready to be sold. The long hours’ strenuous work and continuous stringing and finishing give so much strain to fingers of women. The grip strength of women was found to be severely reduced for other households’ works too. Other body and joint pains add to the drudgery of the women. The prolonged exposure to uncomfortable sitting and drooping neck without any front support was found to be one of the reasons for grip fatigue. Fifteen women involved in only string making and string finishing, working for an average of 6 to 8 hours per day were selected and had been given a platform of 10 inches to put their hands over it and working while wrists were in a supported position. After observations of each women working for 2 hours with and without increased platform workstation, the grip fatigue was significantly found to be reduced by 10.45 for left hand while 18.75 for the right hand. Women themselves felt a difference of ease while doing other works immediately and moving hands freely. The body posture was lifted to straight back and front seeing eyes and neck. An overall visual occupational improvement was observed among the women. The working platform was made as a raised prototype platform for the women inspired trough bed table while a virtual modified and more sophisticated workstation idea was built to prevent overall body discomfort of the workers.