Musculoskeletal injury risk assessment in a car dashboard assembly line using various quantitative and qualitative tools

Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most prevalent conditions in workers performing manual material handling (MMH) activities. In this study, MMH of a dashboard was investigated in a car assembly line. Several quantitative (i.e., biomechanical models) and qualitative (e.g., NIOSH, RULA, REBA, and OWAS) assessment tools were used to evaluate the musculoskeletal injury risk of sequential lifting, carrying, and lowering of the dashboard. The lowering (installing the dashboard) task had the highest risk of injury. Two easy-to-apply interventions were proposed to successfully reduce injury risk according to most of the assessment tools.