A case study: risk work practices with slips and falls potential among food production workers in SME industry

Food production workstation is one of the most risky areas and equipped with different tools and materials which potentially to slip and fall accidents. The aim of this study is to analyse the discomfort working body posture and activities in small medium enterprise (SME) food industry, which contributes to slip and fall accidents. Forty workers at least one-year experience working in food SME industry were involved. A quantitative and qualitative method using survey through questionnaire and observation were utilized to identify workers\u27 experience in the food production workstation. RULA assessment was used to validate the instrument focusing on specific body discomfort or pain. The results indicated that seven critical activities of the food production workstation contributed to high RULA score of 7. The findings from this study yielded that minimizing the work shift was necessary to reduce the effect of prolonged standing. Workers who experienced prolonged standing would lead to fatigue and this condition triggered the potential to slip and fall hazard. Determining the best practices during work is useful for SME food industry in terms of limitation angle of the working posture, manual handling and suitable workstation. The outcome can be a guideline to the food service industries for precaution on the safety and health matters in the workstation