The number of people above 60 years of age will increases due to the growth of the population in the first half of the 21st century, particularly in Malaysia. This has led to the growing number of older drivers which is often unavoidable as driving is a necessary task that not only achieves mobility but also shows a sign of independence and improves self-esteem, which are essential towards effecting the lifestyle. This paper briefly looks at common elderly related visual impairment, reviews design approaches and tools that tackle or include these issues in the design process and further outlines new research needs. It is the intention of this paper to steer the research direction of the development of future design approach and tools that would enhance the capabilities of designers to be well prepared to cater for inclusive design for the elderly, more specifically for visual impairments issues.

This study was done to determine the relationship between indoor air quality and Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) among students in Retrofitting Building (Building A) located in Kuala Lumpur and Purposed-built Building (Building B) located in Selangor. A cross sectional study was conducted among student from selected buildings with the total number of 130 respondents. Modified questionnaire based on Indoor Air Quality and Work Symptoms Survey, NIOSH, Indoor Environmental Quality Survey, 1991 was used to record the number of students experienced SBS. Measurement of indoor air quality was performed using instruments recommended by the IAQ Code of Practice, Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia. There was a significantly higher number of occupants experienced SBS in Building A (60 of 65 respondents) compared to Building B (50 of 65 respondents) (Χ 2 = 4.127, p = 0.042). It was also found that there is a significant difference between the numbers of respondents having SBS between Building A and Building B (p < 0.045). Building A had higher CO2, bacteria, fungi, and UFP significantly as compared to Building B. However, only CO was significantly higher in Building B compared to Building A. It is suggested thatregular maintenance of both buildings is compulsory as ventilation played an important role in maintaining good indoor air quality in a building.

Extensive research has been carried out over the years to determine the maximum acceptable weight that a worker is capable of lifting in a given situation among the Occidental populations in the Europe and US. At present, there is a scarcity of studies in which lifting frequency is used as the measuring variable, especially in developing countries such as Malaysia. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the effects of lifting loads on the maximum acceptable frequency limit (MAFL), physiological response (muscle activity) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) for asymmetric lifting and lowering tasks of Malaysian males.Ten male subjects are recruited in this study and they perform asymmetric lifting and lowering tasks repetitively for 30 minutes. Two lifting loads are considered (1) 1 kg and (2) 5 kg. Each of the subjects adjusts his frequency of lifting using a psychophysical approach. The subjects are instructed to perform the lifting and lowering task as fast as they could over duration of 30 minutes without exhausting themselves or becoming overheated. Electromyography (EMG) signals are recorded from four muscles (Right Erector Spinae (RES), Left Erector Spinae (LES), Right Trapezius p Descendenz (RTD) and Left Trapezius p Descendenz (LTD) and analysed in terms of the normalized MVC during asymmetric lifting and lowering tasks. The ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) for four body parts (arms, lower back, shoulders and entire body) are also collected after the subjects have completed the lifting and lowering task. The mean frequency of the lifting and lowering task obtained from the experiment is 13.41 and 9.66 times/minute for a lifting load of 1 and 5 kg, respectively. The results of the independent sample t-test show that load has a statistically significant effect on the maximum acceptable frequency limit (p < 0.05). However, it is found that even though there is an increase in muscle activity and RPE with an increase in lifting load, there is no significant difference in the overall mean muscle activity and RPE (p > 0.05). The percentage decrease in the maximum acceptable frequency for Malaysian males is higher than the Occidental populations for both of the loads investigated in this study.

Teachers face one of the highest demands of any professional group to use their voices at work. Thus, they are at higher risk of developing voice disorder than the general population. The consequences of voice disorder may have impact on teacher’s social and professional life as well as their mental, physical and emotional state and their ability to communicate. Objectives of this study are to determine the prevalence of voice disorder and the relationship between voice disorder with associated risk factors such as teaching activities and lifestyle factors among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak. A cross sectional study was conducted based on random sample of 4 primary schools in Bintulu, Sarawak between January-March 2014. A total of 100 full-time primary school teachers were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire addressing the prevalence of voice disorder and potential risk factors. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between voice disorder and associated risk factors. The response rate for this study was 78% (78/100). The study found that the prevalence of voice disorder among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak was 13%. Chi-square test results revealed that factors significantly associated with voice disorder (p<0.05) were smoking (p=0.012), consuming alcohol beverages (p=0.012) for lifestyle factors while teaching session (p=0.049) for teaching activities. A low prevalence of voice disorder exists among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak. Smoking, consuming alcohol beverages and teaching session has proven to be significantly associated causing voice disorder among them.

Posture is one of the most important factor that need to be considered in any postural analysis. Awkward, extreme, and repetitive postures can increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). As observational methods are more widely used than instrumentation-based methods to assess postural problems, this study reviews and assesses the scientific literature of observational methods and focused on pen and paper based specifically. In order to identify the published methods, a list of English or Malay articles dating as far back as 1990 was compiled from PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar. The keywords were ergo*, posture*, method*, observational*, postural problems*, pen and paper*, posture analysis*, indirect* and macro-ergo*. In addition, a secondary search was also performed using bibliography of retrieved articles so that additional papers for conducting review and evaluations can be collected. A total of 121 articles that assessed postural problems in working activities were found. However, after intensive screening process only 6 articles were selected to be further analyzed. Posture of upper arms/shoulder, lower arms/ elbow, wrist, neck, back/trunk and leg were highlighted in this study. The limitations and the strengths of the published pen and paper based observational method focusing on those postures were also discussed. The finding of this review will benefit researchers in the process of understanding unsafe posture in workplace. It could also provide to researcher on how to improve the current pen and paper based observational method for assessing postural problems.

This paper explains Needlestick and Sharp Injuries among Healthcare Workers in Saudi Hospitals. Presently there are number of factors that are responsible for health care workers injuries. Lack of secure environment and ignorance to safety measurescan lead to injuries due to Needlestick and Sharp objects. There is a significant need of providing better working environment for health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Following daily practices and World Health Organization’s measures for taking the preventive steps for these injuries is necessary. Trying to avoid utilizing needles whenever secure and efficient substitutes are present, providing needle containers, avoiding re-capping and wearing gloves on both hands are some of the measures that could be taken to make sure these problems do not recur.

It is known that lifting tasks are one of the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in the automotive industry. Extensive research has been carried out over the years to develop guidelines and determine safe limits in which an individual can lift. For this reason, the objective of this study is to determine the significant risk factors of musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive industry, and propose a methodological framework for future research on manual lifting tasks. The subjects of this study comprise 211 manual material handling workers from the automotive industry. The subjects completed a set of questionnaires which are used to elicit information on their demographic characteristics, as well as physical factors and the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. The Chi-Square test was used to determine the relationship between the risk factors and musculoskeletal discomfort. The findings of the study show that the following postures (trunk bent slightly forwards, hands above the knee level (p < 0.05), trunk twisted (over 45o) and bent sideways (p < 0.05) are the significant risk factors of musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive industry. A methodological framework on manual lifting task in the automotive industry is proposed based on the findings of this study. The framework is developed based on the need to model human lifting capabilities so that task demands can be designed to fit the workers’ capacity when performing lifting tasks.

Oil palm workers are exposed to ergonomics problems in their routine works. Although many technological advances have been developed, a large number of workers are still using manual handling tools in their daily work. A study was done to identify and solve the problems or issues of material handling effect on oil palm collectors and loaders during their daily work activities. A cross sectional study was done in an oil palm plantation in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Twenty five workers were selected randomly to participate in this study. Musculoskeletal symptoms were recorded using Modified Nordic Questionnaires and awkward postures of the workers were assessed using Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). Result showed that 61% of workers were exposed to high risk level and 39% to very high risk level of working posture problems. In conclusion, majority of oil palm collectors and loaders need to correct their working posture as soon as possible. The manual handling activities need to be improved with respect to correct procedure for health and safety concerns.

Currently, the existing toilet design sold in the market has not satisfied criteria of the disabled people. Disabled includes the physical impairment, the hearing impairment, the visual impairment, and the cognitive impairment. This people prefer use a specific toilet to the public toilet. However, a specific toilet was not available in any place. This condition becomes a problem for them. As for the existing public toilet does not provide easiness in use and even has potential risk to lead accidents for them. The toilet was designed to serves only the normal people. Therefore, it needs to design a public toilet which can be used universally. So normal and disable people can use it easily and conveniently. Objective of this research are to develop design parameters of toilet based on the inclusive design concept to satisfy customer criteria. Axiomatic design was implemented in this study to identify the design parameters by means of mapping process from customer attributes and functional requirements. Anthropometric data was used and non paramethric statistical analysis was conducted to validate the proposed design. Result of this study showed thatdesign parameters identified was valid to satisfy customer criteria at 5% of significant level. The design parameters encompassed material used, dimensions and position of toilet attributes as well as additional environmental appliances.

Display is the most important things to get information in particularly for Tourism Park. A good display will increase effectiveness and efficiency in reading as well as alleviate uncertainty on information. Thus the design should be clear and able to identify easily about the real environment. This paper develop design of display which can result in expeditious response in human information processing. Empirical study was conducted to determine reaction time as the physiological parameter of human respond by using a software developed with Java. Two categories of information used were accessibilities and public facilities. A case study is Pindul Cave Tourism where 12 male and 8 female was participated in this experiment. The result shows that response time to process the information of alternative design was 1.16 second to 1.30 second. Furthermore, design by using combination of text and symbol was easier to understand than text or symbol with 0.2 second of lapse time. There were significant differences in reaction time among colour combinations which white for background and black for object with 91% of contras value has longer time then with 74% of contras value of green for background and red for object. While the design by using large size was not more effective than other size for information display.