Title: A unified fuzzy system for evaluating work related postural risk score of discomfort prone body parts of workers through rapid upper limb assessment

Authors: Bappaditya Ghosh; Subhashis Sahu; Debasish Majumder; Animesh Biswas

Addresses: Department of Mathematics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani-741235, India ' Department of Physiology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani – 741235, India ' Department of Mathematics, JIS College of Engineering, Kalyani-741235, India ' Department of Mathematics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani-741235, India

Abstract: A unified fuzzy system has been developed in this paper for assessing weighted postural risk score (PRS) of body parts by reducing errors relating to human perception in measuring exact body joint angles corresponding to different working postures used as inputs of rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) process. In the proposed method a Mamdani fuzzy inference system is generated using two input parameters based on modified Nordic questionnaire and RULA. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is incorporated to calculate the weight of postural risk associated with each body part using the body part discomfort scale. Finally, weighted PRS of each body part is evaluated to identify the discomfort prone body parts for taking preventive strategies well in advance. To establish application potentiality of the proposed methodology a case study is performed for assessing weighted PRS of different discomfort prone body parts of female brick moulders engaged in several brick fields.

Keywords: modified Nordic questionnaire; Mamdani fuzzy inference system; rapid upper limb assessment; analytic hierarchy process; BPD scale.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2023.132305

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2023 Vol.26 No.1, pp.17 - 43

Accepted: 09 Dec 2021
Published online: 18 Jul 2023 *

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