Design and analysis of wudu' (ablution) workstation for elderly in Malaysia / Atikah Aman

Every mosque and musolla will equipped with wudu’ (ablution) workstation to facilitate the Muslims to perform their ablution. Muslims are obligated to perform ablution as a cleaning ritual before praying. Currently, the specifications in design of the wudu’ workstation is still inadequate especially for elderly. Therefore, this study is conducted to design an ergonomic wudu’ workstation for elderly to perform their ablution independently based on the elderly anthropometric dimensions. In prior to that, there are 15 (7 males and 8 females) subjects were involved in collecting the anthropometric data around Malaysia and mostly in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Data collected of the anthropometric measurements are distributed in a table and the mean is calculated. Based on the calculation, an improved design of the wudu’ workstation is proposed referring to the ergonomics design principles. Then, the inclinometers were used to record the angle of upper trunk and pelvic. There are 11 anthropometric dimensions (stature, shoulder height, standing elbow height, kneecap height, span, elbow span, shoulder breadth, arm reach forward, forearm-hand length, hand length and foot length) were considered important in designing the workstation. The proposed design scores 3 for face cleaning and hands cleaning, and scores 2 for foot cleaning in RULA analysis. The results for the inclinometer show that they experienced more flexion and extension during foot cleaning which resulted in positive and negative value of angle reading. The workstation will become one of the worthy social contributions to the Muslim elderly population especially in Malaysia