Drivers’ posture is one of the factors that can contribute to driving discomfort. Subjective evaluation is needed in determining the driving discomfort problem. The purpose of this study is to examine the reliability of different driving postures that may lead to drivers’ discomfort. A total of thirty-four healthy Malaysian drivers were involved in this study. Respondents were required to sit on the driver’s seat with the required adjustments of three different postures and fill-in the given subjective evaluation form. The same procedure was repeated for each respondent after three days for purpose of conducting test retest evaluation. The reliability statistical analysis result shows the study was reliable and valid with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient equal to 0.827. The comparison means that ANOVA analysis also shows significance difference between these three groups of postures for all measured parameters. In conclusion, the result from this study shows the subjective evaluation conducted is reliable and can be used for drivers’ posture discomfort study.

Agricultural activities have always been associated with hazards and injuries. Most common injuries experienced by workers are health, safety and ergonomic injuries. It stems from many causes, such as the use of manual tools, incorrect working position, inadequate rest and overloading. This paper aims to reveal the daily hazardous work task of oil palm plantation workers with highlighting the ergonomics problems and risk of injury they faced. Observations of work tasks and distribution of Modified Nordic Questionnaire (MNQ) were performed for every work unit. Worker’s activities and posture while performing work tasks were recorded extensively using camera and video recordings for ergonomics analysis. Results from the observation and questionnaire survey conducted, showed that oil palm plantation workers are exposed to the risk of dangerous work every day. Fresh fruit bunches cutter and loose fruit collectors were having highest body pain complaints and almost from them are having low back pain problems. Therefore, it is necessary for an immediate action from the management in order to determine the current prevalence of ergonomic injuries. Using of manual tools should be avoided and plantation workers should be provided with ergonomics machines that can help them reduce their workload and injuries.

It is well known that low back pain among working population is a global problem throughout the world. However, the current situation of occupational low back pain in Malaysia is still vague due to limited number of studies conducted locally. A cross sectional study was conducted among three automotive industry workers in Selangor, Malaysia from October 2010 to April 2011. This study aims to determine the prevalence and risk factors of low back pain among automotive industry workers performing manual material handling tasks using self-administered questionnaire survey. A modified Standardised Nordic Questionnaire was used to assess low back pain problem, to obtain personal and psychosocial risk factors information. The prevalence of low back pain showed increment in the point prevalence of 57.9%, 49.5%, and 35.1 % for 12 months, one month, and of 7 days respectively. Working hour, frequency of overtime, stress at work, work pace, and faster movement were found to be significantly associated with the 12 months prevalence for low back pain. This finding indicates that psychosocial risk factors are associated to the occurrence of low back pain.
Low Back Pain ; Industry ; Occupational Diseases ; Malaysia

Substantial studies reported musculoskeletal disorders among the working population in the developed country, however, a limited number of studies were conducted in Malaysia. The objective of this cross sectional study was to determine the physical activity risk factors for low back pain among automotive workers in Selangor. Modified Risk Factors Questionnaire (RFQ) was used to assess physical activity with the occurrence of low back pain. The significant physical activities associated with the 12 months point prevalence are lifting weight (<5 kg and 11-23 kg) and climbing stairs, not using any mechanical lifting aid, and postures (extreme bending, pushing and pulling, standing, kneeling, and bending and twisting). These findings indicate that the occupational risk factors mainly the physical demands were significant risk for low back pain among manual material handling (MMH) workers. Work task and workstation design should be regularly evaluated and corrective measures need to be taken. In addition, proper lifting technique and occupational safety and health promotion program should be emphasized among MMH workers.

Validity test is important during the development of ergonomics measurement. Failure to conduct validity tests will result in the measurement method being developed to be incapable of providing reliable ergonomics measurements. The objective of this study is to conduct validity test on the simple method ergonomics measurement which was developed. The method named Simple Ergonomics Risks Assessment (SERA). Content validity test and criterion validity test were conducted. The content validity test consists of 6 ergonomics experts who actively provide inputs and positive feedbacks to improve the measurement method being developed. Meanwhile, the criterion validity test involves data collection of complaints on body parts among oil palm workers which were derived from Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and ergonomics risk assessment scores obtained from SERA. Both findings were tested with the Chi-square test to explore possible relations between the two findings. Results from the test conducted showed that there are significant relations in the scores of neck posture; hip, right and left shoulder, right and left wrists and the right hand associated with fresh fruit bunch (FFB) harvesting activities. In the loose fruits collection, the Chi-square test showed significant relations in the scores of neck posture, hip, right and left shoulders, right wrist, right arm and the left hand. However, there are body parts such as the legs which showed no significant relation. More tests should be conducted to further explore the validity of the method being developed. Findings from both validity tests show that SERA were verified by the experts and tested with validated method so that it is valid to be applied in the future.

Road transport is the movement of passengers or goods on the road. To date, issues concerning the safety of students and school institutions have continued to attract public attention. The recent spate of incidents insideand outside the school compoundhas brought the issue of children safety into our attention. These include the escalating number of road casualties. This study was conducted to observe road hazard outside the school compound and analyse the safety risksfaced by school children by using the risk matrix. The risks are calculated to include likelihood and severity of hazard as identified in the Guideline of HIRARC 2008. The area selected was the East Coast state of Peninsular Malaysia, with over 111 schools randomly selected in Kelantan. Results werethen analysed and six highlighted hazards were discussed. The results show that the main road posed the highest risk due to speeding vehicles. These vehicles failed to slow down when approaching the school area. The school administrationmustenhance the safety of the staff, students, and public while in the school area. In conclusion, road safety awareness must be instilledamong teachers, students, parents and road users alike.
hazard ; road transport ; school ; children ; teacher ; safety ; hazard identification, risk analysis

Road Safety remainsone the most important issuesaffecting educational institutions especiallythe school. The prevalence of road accidentsin recent news reportsunderlines the importance of this issue. Such accidents involving school pupils have further escalated this concern. As such,safety awareness among school teachersis crucial in order for them to identify the suitable methods to prevent more road accidents in future. This study was conducted to analyse teachers’ awareness of road safety in school to gauge the training requirementson road safety. Road safety education and training in school is just as important as improving safety for road users outside schools. For this study, a set of survey questionnaire wasdistributedto 400 school teachers from 111 schools randomly selected from the 10 District Education Offices in Kelantan. Results were then analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). From the results, 40% of respondentswere male and 60% of them were female. Descriptive analysis showed that school teachers understood road safety as 90% of them possessed basic safety knowledge, while 10% of them lacked basicknowledge on road safety. However, they did not implement safety practice that may have contributed to unfortunate eventshappening outside of school including road accidents as reported in the news. This study suggests that school teachers must undergo road safety training to promote and improve road safety in school.With higher awareness and more information about the road safety, the teacherscould create a safer environment in their school. Undoubtedly, teachers have a vital roleto ensure safety of their pupils and their commitment will likely reduce the number of road accidents.
Road ; Safety ; Accident ; Awareness ; Teachers ; Training