Bucky—The Study of an Ergonomic Design Intervention for a Bucket Carrying Task

Abstract

Carrying a bucket of water is one of the most common yet strenuous tasks performed on a daily basis. This manual handling exposes the user to awkward postures; repetitive movements in turn causing Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD); repetitive strain injuries & cumulative trauma disorders. This manual task also hinders the range of motion, reducing the efficiency, increasing the time and energy of the user. This research deals with the evaluation of the task through ergonomic assessments used to gauge posture and provide solutions to the problems in the form of a newly designed product. An experiment was created to assess manual handling through ergonomic assessments where data was collected through Observation methods, Videos, Photographs and Questionnaires to assess the task. Ergonomics Assessments-RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment); REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment); OMPQ (Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain) questionnaires were conducted to assess the risk factors. The experiment showed that such a simple task was demanding as the scores from RULA and REBA majorly belonged to the ‘very high risk’ category. Utilizing the concepts of the lever system and hydraulics, the purpose of this study was to design an ergonomic 4-wheel trolley, equipped with a bracket and adjustable handle to overcome obstacles, improving efficiency and occupational safety, reducing the risk of slipping and/or toppling and single-handedly safe transport of the bucket. The solution is to design a product to ease the work and improve the safety and ease of the task by ensuring a better posture.