AULIB-IR Central Library :: Browsing by Author "Venmathi, A"

Clothing is the basic necessity of any human being. The textile garment industry is the iargest foreign exchange earner. It is aiso the second iargest empioyment provider next to agricuiture. The garment industry contributes 16.63% to the foreign earnings of India and it employs over 3.5 million workers. Garment production in Tirupur, also known as “T-Shirt City”, located in Western Tamil Nadu, accounts for approximately 80 per cent of India’s total production of knitwear for export. Tirupur contains a vast network of factories and subcontractors, with units ranging in size from 1000 workers to a handful of workers to individual home-based units. These workers are employed in various sections such as pattern making, cutting, stitching, checking, ironing and packing of garments. Garment production involves different postures to be adopted by the workers; as a result of which majority of them face hazards and risks. Among all the activities carried out by the workers, stitching and checking of garments were found to be most hazardous. This was proved by three assessment tools such as Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), Body Part Discomfort (BPD) and Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis [HIRA] respectively. The table and stool developed by earlier research were adopted for the study and modified based on the suggestions given by the workers. The modified ergonomically designed table and stool were given to ten workers to use for a period of two months. Evaluation of the improved furniture was carried out using the following headings namely RULA, BPD, Heart rate studies and worker productivity. Studies on the impact of the improved furniture on postural discomfort and productivity revealed that there were a reduction in the discomfort level and also improved the productivity.