Ergonomic Analysis of the Work Environment of Weavers in Manipur

Women constitute a significant proportion of the work force in diverse industrial activities and due to lack of strict adherence to work environment standards and legislation are subjected to various work hazards. The existing work practices, conditions of work and incompatible man-machine design exert varying work stresses on the operator stated Singleton way back in 1966. Till now, this problem has never been resolved. The study was conducted to analyse working environment of the handloom weavers in Manipur. A total of 42 participants (14 from each weaving on the three different looms namely Loin loom, Throw shuttle loom and Fly shuttle loom) were selected from Imphal East and Imphal West districts of Manipur. A checklist was used to evaluate the work environment. The analysis brought to light the elements of vector found not satisfactory in the weaving sheds for the set four indices namely General Conditions (GWC), Work Station (WD), Working Posture (WP) and Hand Tools (HT) and need attention for all types of looms users, the plight of the loin loom users, further stands out attracting attention for necessary action.