Level of Organization Awareness on the Importance of Ergonomics to Health and Safety at the Workplace
Zafirah Ab Muin1 Dr. Maimunah Sapri2

Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia 1 Email: zafirah.hjabmuin@gmail.com 2 Email: maimunahsapri@utm.my

Abstract In Malaysia, ergonomics has been introduced on December 1, 1992 through the establishment of ergonomics division in the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); while its provision has been stated under Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. Although ergonomics has been carrying out by the government almost centuries ago, but it is not widely implemented and practiced in Malaysia. Besides, occupational disease consists of human organs tends to happens mainly due to lack of ergonomics awareness among the people at the workplace. Ergonomics awareness is the first step to implement ergonomics effectively. Without ergonomics awareness, effort to endorse ergonomics practice can be tough and lead to injuries and illness; and directly affects the workers’ productivity, performance and cost. Therefore, this study was attempted to identify the level of organization awareness on the ergonomics provision under OSHA 1994 and to evaluate the level of organization awareness on the importance of ergonomics to health and safety at the workplace in University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). A quantitative and survey research design was used. 230 questionnaires was developed and distributed to obtain the data from the respondents at selected administrative office, which they are divided into two groups; management and support staff. The results of this study show that respondents having high level of awareness on the ergonomics provisions and the importance of ergonomics in terms of comfort, health, safety, productivity, costs, complaints and training. Though, a positive attitude to change and accept the benefits of ergonomics is the key to generate movement to implement and practice ergonomics in appropriate way, and it should be in line with increasing the understanding and knowledge about ergonomics continuously. The outcome of this study hopefully can be used to highlight the importance and beneficial of ergonomics to assist the accomplishment of health and safety working environment in Malaysia especially in the context of higher learning public institution. Keywords: Ergonomics; Organization Awareness; Health and Safety; Importance 1. INTRODUCTION safety the workplace. Occupational disease Ergonomics, has large impact to health and (CTDs)at is one of the issues confronting bywith consists of cumulative trauma disorders the organization all around the world. It became seriously when the rate of occupational disease that comprises musculoskeletal injuries at the workplace was greatly increased from year to year; and directly affects the cost and productivity.

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According to International Ergonomic Association (IEA) (2003), ergonomics or human factors is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interaction among humans and other elements of a system in order to optimize human well-being and overall system. It is about conforming or fitting the work, equipment and workplace with the worker that intended to maximize worker’s comfort, health and safety, productivity and efficiency (Shaliza et. al., 2009). Ergonomics has introduced in Malaysia on December 1, 1992 through the establishment of ergonomics division in the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This is one of the government efforts to identify ergonomics hazard at the workplace. Ergonomics hazard means the physical factors that may endanger musculoskeletal systems due to the weakness of body position, poor workplace design, fatigue or stress (OSHA, 2008). According to Norashikin et. al. (2011), musculoskeletal is one of human organs covers the human muscle system involving neck, shoulder, spine, wrist, elbow, thigh/hips, knees, lower legs, etc. In order to ensure the implementation of ergonomics done effectively, government has taken steps to clarify the enforcement of ergonomics in Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. Refer to Shikdar and Sawadeq (2003), failure in applying the principle of ergonomic at the workplace will contribute to physical and mental stress. It will directly affect health quality of the workers and automatically their productivity will decrease. This problem should be taken seriously where it requires a comprehensive participation of ergonomics in ensuring health and safety of the workers are always at an optimum level. In the field of facilities management, organizational success factors are based on well-management of people, place, process and technology (Abdul Hakim, Maimunah and Maizan, 2006). These components must be managed properly in accordance with respective functions where they are considered important to an organization’s operational success. Quality work environment, healthy and sustainable help an organization’s core business processes run smoothly. Besides, a good working environment (workplace) will provide comfort and satisfaction to the user (workers) that lead to maximum performance in achieving organizational goals and objectives (Raymond and Cunliffe, 1997). Therefore, implementation of ergonomics at the workplace has also forced organization to become more creative in the way they structure their human resources to ensure that they are the most productive with the health and safety workplace is constantly provided. 2. RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Rapid development in science and technology bring up new dimension to the working environment in a way to enhancing the competitiveness. Through the current changes, employees are emphasis to ensure administrative system more systematic which is mostly lead to computer-based applications and require the workers to bond with the machines. Typically, workers had to adapt any form or arrangement of the workplace such as workstation design without realizing the potential health risks they had to face. Unfortunately, the human body cannot be adapted to all situations. Mismatch between the capabilities of employees with the capacity required in the workplace will lead to inefficiencies in production; reduction in quality of work; increate rate of errors; accident and shift work (Marilyn and Philip, 1994). A musculoskeletal disorder complaint that involves spine and skeleton problems is commonly reported among office workers around the world and this phenomenon has impact on workers’ health and productivity. According to Norashikin et. al. (2011), based on a number of follow-up study made between the periods of 3 months to 5.4 years, the increase in musculoskeletal disorder complaints was higher among workers with high job stress and the use of keyboard and mouse for a long time. It causes high muscle tension, especially in the neck and shoulders. Refer to Clifton et al. al. (2003), cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) that result in injury to the musculoskeletal, will cause pain and sometimes can lead to paralysis in which they occur gradually and may take weeks, months or years for an individual to recognize and know the reason for the disease. 2

According to Deputy Minister of Human Resources, Senator Datuk Maznah Mazlan (2011) states that, there are a total of 1221 cases of occupational disease at the workplace have been reported in 2010 compared to 949 cases in 2009. Disease involved organ systems contribute second highest number of cases due to occupational disease statistics by Social Security Organization (SOCSO) 2010 as mention in Table 1 below. Type of Disease Disease caused by agent Disease involved organ systems Occupational cancer Others diseases Total Cases 2009 481 252 19 197 949 2010 551 377 14 279 1,221

Table 2.1: Occupational Disease Statistics by Social Security Organization (SOCSO) 2010 Source: Seminar Paper of Safety, Health, Jobs and the Environment (2011) Consequence from this increasing number of occupational disease, the amount of compensation by SOCSO also registered an increase. This is according to Minister of Human Resource, YB Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam (2011) states that, RM 1.549 billion has paid as compensation to the workers due to accidents at the workplace in 2012 compared with RM 1.354 billion in 2009. It shows that disease involved organ systems happened at the workplace subsidize to the cost matters and automatically smudge the economy of the country. In fact, if there is no action taken to prevent this disease from happened, it will contribute to the permanent injury or death (NIOSH, 2008). For that reason, the involvement of ergonomics is said to have a positive impact on the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders, reduce injuries and workers' compensation claims and lost workdays or absenteeism due to illness (Dwayne et. al., 2010). Ergonomic provision has been enacted under Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994 almost 20 years ago. Based on the provision, each organizational in Malaysia should well-known and aware of the ergonomic requirement in order to ensure employees welfare at the workplace. However, occupational disease which involved organ system keeps increasing from year to year as revealed in Table 1, even though ergonomics is proved by previous research has valuable contribution to organization interest. In addition, total amount of compensation also increase due to this problem and costly to the organization such as Government to pay it. Thus, this article attempts to answer the question as to what extent does the organization aware of the elements of ergonomic stated under Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) 1994. Does the organization aware of the importance of ergonomic to health and safety at workplace? This is because, awareness is important in the beginning, during implementation process and until the organization can obtained the input of ergonomic at maximum level (Dwayne et. al, 2010). Besides, awareness and/or knowledge of ergonomic is important to prevent musculoskeletal disorder problem from becoming more severe (Norashikin et. al., 2011). Raising awareness on the implementation contributes to reduce the incidence of ergonomic injuries (de Looze el. al., 2001). According to Karwowski (2005), the person who is aware of ergonomic, has knowledge to make choice and act to practice ergonomic compared to those who not aware of ergonomic. Refer to Alison (2002), if there is a positive attitude towards health and safety in the organization, the rate of failure to comply with ergonomic provision will decrease. While Shaliza et. al. (2009) conclude that, one of the major factor why ergonomic is not well implemented is due to the lack of awareness and application of ergonomic benefits. Hence, this article will review the importance of ergonomics and its benefit that can possibly contribute to organization perquisite and improve workers health and safety; performance and productivity in appropriate way based on the previous studies. Also, the level of organization ergonomics awareness analysis will be discussed yet the ergonomics approach can be implementing effectively at an early stage. 3

3.

LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Ergonomics Ergonomics refers to the complex relationship between workers and their work that infuses every aspect of the workplace. Derived from the Greek words ‘ergo’, which means work and ‘nomos’, which means natural laws, ergonomics literally means the laws of work. A review from the previous study, the authors using a variety of definitions of ergonomics when refer the concept. Commonly, ergonomics encompassed the relationship between humans, machine systems; job design and the work environment where it goals is to enable workers to be more effective by matching the requirements and demands of the job to the abilities and limitations of the workers rather than trying to force the workers to fit the job (Marilyn and Philip, 1994). In simple understanding, ergonomics can be defined as the science of fitting the work, equipment and workplace with the worker thereby maximizing worker comfort, safety, productivity and efficiency. It is the science that makes things comfortable and help to complete the tasks effectively. 3.2 Concept of Ergonomics The increasing awareness in ergonomics can be credited to a number of factors. The most obvious is the rising costs associated with work related injuries or illnesses. Worker injuries and their related costs, both direct and indirect, often are the result of some problem with the line between a worker and a machine system. As technology has lead to increase in automation, so too have work-related illnesses increased by observe the great rise in cumulative trauma disorders, the fastest growing category of workplace trauma. For that reason, ergonomics is important to be considered. Ergonomics is often associated with the needs, capabilities and limitations of the individual against any work done or equipment used. According to the IEA (2003), the main focus of ergonomics is divided into three parts, physical ergonomics, cognitive and organizational. According to Karwowski (2005), the three domains of specialization are:

The discipline of ergonomics is focused on understanding the interaction between human and system which involves all the people around, whether in or outside of their workplace environment (Karwowski, 2005). Ergonomics plays an important role in ensuring the capacity and capability of a person revised to the work performed. This means that, when a person understands and learns about ergonomics, it helps to improve the working environment. So that people can work comfortably and use the minimum amount of energy, properly and efficiently.

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3.3 Consideration of Ergonomics Elements to the Worker Task: An individual has different ability. Workload beyond the ability of individual can contribute to fatigue and stress (Shaliza, 2007). Short duration time given to complete task, complex directions from top management can cause health problem (Shaliza, 2007). Physical environment: There is relationship between employee health with physical environment at the workplace such as air quality, ergonomic furniture and lighting (Vischer, 2007). Ergonomic working environment is important to minimize stress (Miles, 2000). Lighting, sound, vibration and temperature will influence job quality and human error while doing their tasks (Shaliza, 2007). Reduce human error be able to reduce injury and accident, increase productivity and reliability (Vischer, 2007). Workspace: Floor configuration and furniture layout have direct influence to worker’s performance and satisfaction (Vischer, 2007). Equipment modification to suit employee in doing their job be able to minimize illness and give them more comfortable. This accomplishment will lead to increase the productivity (Wickens et. al., 2004) Organization and Procedure: Top management plays an important role in promoting ergonomic culture within an organization (Flin et. al. (2000) and Yule et. al. (2001), besides participation from employee also needed to implement ergonomic effectively at the workplace (Alison, 2002). Research by Douglas et. al. (2004) states that organizational commitment on the ergonomic is shown by effort to ensure all operations such as equipment, procedure, training and work schedule is routinely assessed.     Activities Physiological Forces/ pressure Information processing Equipment Tools Workspace design Seating Furniture Work surface            Lighting Heat/cold Humidity Air Quality Acoustics Medical Management Management Style Working hours Training Worker input Stress

     

Figure 3.4: Ergonomic Job Considerations Source: Marilyn and Philip (1994) - Modified from Occupational Ergonomics, Ontario Federation of Labour, Vol. 1 No. 3.4 Relationship between Facilities Management and the Importance of Ergonomics According to Abdul Hakim, Maimunah and Maizan (2006), facility management is defined as a profession that encompasses various disciplines to ensure functionality built environment through the integration between people, places, processes and technology. Based on the definition, facility management has four key elements; work (process), workplace (place), the employee or human (people) and technology where it is in parallel to ergonomics goals to fit work, workplace and the technology with the workers (people). Thus, the correlation of facility management in the implementation of ergonomics can be seen in terms of the importance of ergonomics as follows. 5

Comfort Aspect: According to McDougall et al. al. (2002), post occupancy evaluation (POE) in terms of facility performance measurement is intended to evaluate the satisfaction level of employees to their work environment in a building. In this performance evaluation, ergonomics is one of the parameters that are of concern to achieve a level of comfort required by the occupants of the building. While Vischer (2007) stated that comfort was used as a basis setting environmental standards in building that have been developed. According to Izzran Sarrazin (2011), a building designed with ergonomic considerations will lead to enhance the ability of employees to perform duties effectively, minimize stress and fatigue, and ensure building occupants are comfortable, free from the risk of occupational disease and injury. With the involvement of facility management during the selection of ergonomic furniture, it helps organizations make the best decisions that take into account the quality and value in each assessment.

Figure 3.4.1: Summary of Building Performance Criteria and Parameters for Performance Occupant Evaluation (POE) Health Aspect: Cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) that result in injury to musculoskeletal will cause pain and sometimes lead to paralysis (Clifton et. al., 2003). According to Mircea and Shrawan (2003), typing work can lead to back pain problem where this impact can cause employee suffering for a long period. In addition, Karwowski (2005) states that health problem such as musculoskeletal disorder could affect the productivity of the workers indirectly and reduce the level of quality of wellbeing. In the field of facility management, risk management, such as the probability that an injury occurs are important factors that seriously emphasized. Preparation of control measures to ensure that customers continue to be faithful to use the service while controlling operational costs. Safety Aspect: Insecure workplace will give strain to the employee and this situation will lead them to shift work (Becker and Steel, 1995). Insecure working environment will break off employee focus on their work and this situation will reduce the productivity of the worker and organization (Nik Hazlina, 2010). Through the provision of secure facilities such as the installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) and access control in a systematic way, it will contributing to increased levels of concentration and productivity of employees while at work.

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Productivity Aspect: Nik Hazlina (2010) state that, good physical environment will concern to good health that can contribute in increasing productivity. Providing ergonomic equipment at the workplace is one of the investments (Marilyn and Philip, 1994) where the return is based on the increasing of productivity and effectiveness by employees in doing their job (Shikdar and Sawadeq, 2003). Cost Aspect: According to Marilyn and Philip (1994), ergonomic management is a process that has a positive impact on company profits by reducing costs, improving quality and performance yet increase productivity. While Beevis (2003) states that, ergonomic with widely implemented will reduce cost through the low rate of accident, human error, absenteeism and medical cost. In facilities management, a business is considered successful when the investment returns positively made due to the effective financial management (Abdul Hakim, Maimunah and Maizan, 2006). Preparation of an ergonomic facility is one form of investment gains (Miles, 2000). 3.5 Beneficial Contributions of Ergonomics at the Workplace According to OSHA (2012), there are some ergonomic benefits that can be obtained directly and indirectly identified in studies by previous researchers and are summarized as follows:

Table 3.5.1: Direct and Indirect Ergonomic Benefits Source: OSHA (2012) Discipline of ergonomics has more than 10 years ago is studied by previous researchers with focus on occupational health and safety aspects (OSHA, 2012). Many studies link ergonomic benefits to costs and productivity. The findings were summarized as shown in Table 3.5.2.

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Table 3.5.2: Ergonomics Outcome Based on Previous Researchers Source: MacLeod (1995) in the OSHA (2012) 3.6 Ergonomics Awareness Ergonomics knowledge: An individual who has the basic knowledge of the philosophy of humancentered design and principles for accommodating human limitations. Ergonomics ways of thinking and acting: An individual who has knowledge will seeks information about benefits and risks of artifacts and systems (consumer products, services, etc.) Practical Ergonomics: An individual can identify and solve simple task (job)-related design problems at work and can apply basic ergonomics concepts to make informed judgments about usability of items and the related risks and benefits of their use.

Figure 3.6.1: Desired goals for ergonomics literacy 8

3.7 Enforcement of Ergonomics in Malaysia Legislation Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) has been enacted on February 25, 1994. The aims of this act establishment is to ensure the safety, health and welfare of all people in the workplace are control under the legislation. Ergonomic provision is stated as one of the OSHA existing purpose. Refer to the Act; ergonomics is the fourth purpose of act establishment which stated as: “…to promote a working environment for employees that are customized to the needs of their physiological and psychological”. By this provision, it is directly stated that ergonomics is important to be implemented and become the responsibility of employer (organization) to follow it to ensure a safety and health working environment is available to employees. This provision is also intended to prevent occupational disease from happens because due to the problem, it will contributing to the increase in compensation costs, reduced productivity as well as rising rates of injuries and fatalities in the workplace. Under Section 15 and 17, OSHA 1994, failure of employers to comply with the provisions stated shall be convicted to a fine or penalty, whether in the form of money (RM 50,000.00), or imprisonment or both. 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a collective term for the structured process of conducting research. There are many different methodologies used in various types of research and the term is usually considered to include research design, data gathering and data analysis. Part of the research methodology is concerned with the how the research is conducted to achieve the objectives of the study. Quantitative method was used in this study to collect the data because it is flexible to get the data more systematic when involved the large number of respondents. Besides, this method has an advantage where it helps to collect data in short period and save the cost whereas all the data and information were obtained by using questionnaire as the instrument. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) was selected as the study area. Sample of the respondents were selected using cluster sampling where the selection is comprised of the management and support staff. Based on Roscoe (1975), size of sample more than 30 and lower than 500 is suitable to any of the research. Therefore, 230 questionnaires were distributed to the staff at administrative office in UTM. Questionnaire was developed and it is divided into four sections where: Section A - Background of Respondent Section B - Level of organization awareness on the ergonomic provision stated under OSHA 1994 Section C - Level of organization awareness on the importance of ergonomic to safety and health Section D - Level of importance of the ergonomic from respondent perspective 10 set of questionnaires were given to 13 faculties and another 10 administrative offices were chosen using cluster random sampling. In this mode of sampling, the naturally occurring groups are selected for being included in the sample. The total population is divided into samples or groups after which, a sample of the groups is selected. After this process, relevant and required data from all the elements of all the groups is collected. At times, instead of collecting information from each group, information can be collected from a sub-sample of the elements. Only 143 set of questionnaires with completed answer were return to be analyzed. Statistical Package for the Social Science Software (SPSS) is used to analyze the data. Due to the feedback, there were 57 from the management and 86 from the support staff Techniques of data analysis of this study are Frequency, Mean and Importance Index Analysis to perform the outcome of the study.

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IDENTIFY ISSUES OR PROBLEMS In this stage issues related to the topic of this study is identify.

GENERATE RESEARCH QUESTION i. Does the organization aware of the elements of ergonomic stated under Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) 1994? ii. Does the organization and employees aware of the importance of ergonomic to health and safety at work? RESEARCH OBJECTIVE i. To identify level of organization awareness on the ergonomic provision under OSHA 1994 at the workplace ii. To evaluate level of organization and employees awareness on the importance of ergonomic to health and safety at the workplace First Stage: Preliminiary Study LITERATURE REVIEW Consideration of Ergonomics Elements to the Worker Relationship between Facilities Management and the Importance of Ergonomics Beneficial Contributions of Ergonomics at the Workplace The Need for Ergonomics Awareness Enforcement of Ergonomics in Malaysia Legislation Second Stage: Theoritical Study DATA COLLECTION Quantitative Method Survey Technique Questionnaire as Main Instrument Respondent: UTM Management dan Support Staff Third Stage: Data Determination and Collection DATA ANALYSIS Data from the survey were analyzed within the scope of the study. Discussion was made based on finding and it was related to literature review. Fourth Stage : Research Outcome and Analysis FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this stage, findings were discussed from the analysis of the data that has been made. Conclusions was made for the overall of the study. Suggestion for improvement were given. Fifth Stage : Conclusion and Recommendation

i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Figure 4.1: Work Process Flow Chart

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5.

DATA ANALYSIS

Quantitative study was conducted where the questionnaire was used as the instrument to collect the data from the respondent. Survey question was provided as a framework for the respondent to answer questions according to the research objectives as stated in this study. Questionnaire was divided into four sections where for Section B, each item using 2-point Guttman scale (Yes/No) to get decisive answer and this section was analyzed using frequency analysis. While Section C and D, each item using a 5-point Likert scale, in form (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) normal, (4) agree and (5) strongly agree. This section used mean score to analyze the data. The compilation of all items in this section use combination of positive and negative items. Coding was used to each of the items in the table to make it easy to be analyzed based on aspects that have been divided for each section below.

Figure 5.1: Measurement Aspects of Organization Awareness Level on the Ergonomic Provision

Figure 5.2: Measurement Aspects of Organization Awareness Level on the Importance of Ergonomics to Safety and Health

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Figure 5.3: Measurement Aspects of the Importance of Ergonomics from Respondent Perspective 6. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Objective 1: Organization Awareness Level on the Ergonomic Provision Awareness is an important factor that plays a key role in human behavior. Thus, in implementing an effective ergonomics, awareness is much needed (Dwayne et. al., 2010). Based on Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1, the analysis found that the level of organization awareness in UTM is high on the elements of ergonomics provisions under OSHA 1994. According to Alison (2002), the rate of failure to comply with the provisions laid down in the legislation would not increase if a culture of positive attitude on health and safety exists in all human beings. And based on the de Looze et al. al. (2010), awareness contributed to the reduction in the incidence of injury. Based on frequency and percentage in Table 6.1, respondents have high positive answer for all aspect of ergonomic provision awareness except for B6 code. That means, respondents are aware on the existence of OSHA 1994, contents and use of OSHA, and responsibility of all parties bonded under OSHA. They are also aware on the existence of ergonomics provision under OSHA, obligation of ergonomics implementation and the compliance duty on ergonomics provision. However, respondents have low positive answer on enhancement of understanding and knowledge of OSHA provision. This result may be due to the sentence arrangement stated under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. Most of provision in any Act used the Legal language which it requires high understanding and explanation by the parties involved. The provision of ergonomic stated in the following legislation as: ".... To promote a working environment for employees that is customized to the needs of their physiological and psychological”. This provision does not provide a clear explanation about what was said with an ergonomic working environment. In addition, no further explanation that describes what is meant by physiological and psychological needs. Therefore, the parties involved in the OSHA Act 1994 such as Department of Health and Safety is responsible for providing the necessary information about the ergonomics of each organization in Malaysia as a whole. A simple and interactive guideline also recommended to be used to promote the effort in enhancing ergonomics awareness and knowledge. The involvement of all parties is required in implementing the ergonomics provisions effectively and comprehensive (Alison, 2002). If the overall participation is obtained, the possibility of occupational disease rates would fall. This is according to Tim and David (2010), the organization who has a culture of positive health and safety are more likely to do an effective preventive action. Individual attitudes played a role. A person who has knowledge of a matter, will think and act for gain 12

more information, then will practice to change for the better (Karwowski, 2005). However, if there is no desire to change, all the efforts are in vain. However, these behavior changes can happen if individuals are aware of the ergonomics for many aspects. Frequency Percentage Yes No Yes No B1 14 9.8 129 90.2 B2 48 33.6 95 66.4 B3 43 30.1 100 69.9 B4 38 26.6 105 73.4 B5 31 21.7 112 78.3 B6 46 32.2 97 67.8 B7 24 16.8 119 83.2 B8 62 43.4 81 56.6 B9 63 44.1 80 55.9 B10 35 24.5 108 75.5 B11 47 32.9 96 67.1 B12 47 32.9 96 67.1 B13 47 32.9 96 67.1 B14 66 46.2 77 53.8 B15 49 34.3 94 65.7 B16 51 35.7 92 64.3 Table 6.1: Frequency and Percentage Distribution for Organization Awareness on Ergonomics Provision ** Coding was separate by the aspects based on yellow line in the table. Code 6.2 Objective 2: Organization Awareness Level on the Importance of Ergonomics Referring to result found that respondents who participated in this study had high levels of awareness in which the average of the respondents agree that the aspects of comfort, health, safety, productivity, costs, complaints and training is the root cause why the ergonomics is important. Based on this study, it can be explained that the respondents agreed ergonomics has the importance to human activities especially at the workplace and give impact to them. For example, respondents agreed that discomfort working environment cause them to lose their focus and placed pressure on the job. These findings support the statement of Chu and Warnock (2002), discomfort environment caused by distracting noise lead to high work pressure and increase rate of human error. Respondents also agreed that ergonomics working environment help to increase their productivity. According to Zafir et. al. (2008), a healthy and safe working environment will affect the productivity of workers due to the ability to perform their jobs well. In addition, respondents agreed that training and ergonomic programs are very important in ensuring a safety and health working environment. This is supported by Norashikun et. al. (2011) that ergonomic training is a good starting strategy for preventing injuries and to increase knowledge on the ergonomics applications and benefits.

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Comfort Aspect Table 6.2.1 shows that the level of respondentsawareness on the importance of ergonomics for comfort aspects is high. This approved by frequency analysis where most respondents agree with the statement. Overall mean score derived from questions items is 4.03.

Health Aspect Table 6.2.2 shows respondents are aware that ergonomics is important to the health. Overall mean score derived from questions items is 4.07. Safety Aspect Table 6.2.3 shows respondents are aware that ergonomics is important to the safety. Overall mean score derived from questions items is 4.05. Productivity Aspect Ergonomics is very important in improving workers performance and productivity. Most respondents are agreed with that where overall mean is 3.99. Cost Aspect Ergonomics is very important in improving workers performance and productivity. Most respondents are agreed with that where overall mean is 3.99. Complaint Aspect Ergonomics complaining should be taken seriously to avoid worse injury among the workers. Prevention action based on complaining is immediately require at the workplace. Overall mean is 3.89. Training Aspect Awareness and training is the important part to implement ergonomics effectively. Organization should accommodate such ergonomics training to evaluate the knowledge among the workers. Overall mean is 3.90.

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Figure 6.1: Summary of Organization Awareness Level on Ergonomics and Other Provision under OSHA, 1994

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Figure 6.2: Summary of Organization Awareness Level on the Importance of Ergonomics

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6.3 Organization Awareness on the Importance of Ergonomics

Figure 6.3: Ranking of Importance of Ergonomics Working Environment Based on Figure 6.3, it shows the importance index value on the importance of ergonomics working environment from the highest to lowest value. It can be seen that the highest value reported as 0.569, 0.547 and 0.502. Based on opinions received from the respondents, the importance of ergonomics is seen to reduce the rate of injuries, accidents and occupational diseases. In addition, the ergonomics are important in fitting the furniture and workstations with workers as well as ergonomics is important to overcome the loss of concentration and pressure at work. Although the level of awareness on the importance of ergonomics respondents are ordered by the importance index value from top to bottom, but it does not mean the items that are in the lower position do not have significance. There is no outsized difference between each aspect of the ergonomics importance because the highest values fall within the range of 0.5 and the next to lowest value is still within the range of 0.4. This result shows that ergonomics is important to all aspect in human activities. This finding is support by the previous study where the ergonomics is cover many aspects and has beneficial contribution to human safety and health activities mainly at the workplace. For example, according to Zafir et. al. (2008), workers with achieved the comfort of physical environment, has the positive attitudes towards their works, more productive and energetic during do their task. While refer to Marilyn and Philip (1994), an effective ergonomics management helps to improve the quality, productivity, efficiently, morale, satisfaction and loyalty of the workers towards organization. In addition, ergonomics with good implementation will reduce the cost of organization including medical cost and absenteeism. 7. CONCLUSION

Level of organization awareness at UTM on the importance of ergonomics to health and safety at the workplace is high. Based on research, the organization are aware on the ergonomics provision and other provision under OSHA 1994. But unfortunately, they have lack of awareness in enhancing their knowledge and understanding about the ergonomic provision. Involvements of all parties in the organization are required to implement ergonomics. Ergonomics promotion and training should be done at every organization in a way to implement ergonomics efficiently. To raise the awareness of the ergonomic, individual should know the importance of ergonomic. From the previous study, there a lot of effect when the ergonomic is not fully implemented. By this research, finding shows that the 17

organization has high level of awareness on the importance of ergonomics. So, there is no excuse why occupational disease still occur even increase from year to year. Awareness is a fundamental aspect influencing every individual behavior. It is such as precondition to implement ergonomics effectively and efficiently. Person who has knowledge of ergonomics will think and act to implement it. However, if there is no existence positive attitude on the health and safety, it is hard to implement ergonomics. This is because, individual’s willingness and ability to change his or her health habits may influence willingness to change health behaviors and maintain the changed behavior. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author would like to extend her special thanks to all, especially to her supervisor, Dr. Maimunah bt Sapri for her valuable guidance, ideas and time through the entire journey to completing this study. Author also would like to express the appreciation to the panel Prof. Dr. Abdul Hakim b Mohammed and Dr. Choong Weng Wai who give the comments and ideas in improving her thesis writing. Additionally, the author is grateful for the support and assistance given by her family and friends to perform the work of this research. REFERENCES Abdul Hakim Mohammed, Maimunah Sapri dan Maizan Baba (2006). Pengurusan Fasiliti. Fakulti Geoinformasi dan Harta Tanah. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Press. Alison G. Vredenburgh (2002). Organizational Safety: Which Managementpractices Are Most Effective In Reducing Employee Injury Rates?. Journal of Safety Research. Volume 33, Issue 2, Summer 2002, Pages 259–276. Chu, W.T., dan Warnock, A.C. (2002). Measurement of sound propagation in open plan offices. Ottawa, Canada: Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council of Canada. Clifton R. Lacy, M.D., James E. McGreevey dan Albert G. Kroll (2003). Cumulative Trauma Disorders In Office Workers. Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Program. New Jersey Department Labor. de Looze, M., et. al., (2001). Towards Successful Physical Stress Reducing Products: An Evaluation of Seven Cases. Journal of Applied Ergonomics. 32 (5), 525-534. Dwayne van Erd, Donald Cole, Emma Irvin, Quenby Mahood, Kiera Keown, Nancy Theberge, Judy Village, Marie St. Vincent and Kim Cullen (2010). Process and Implementation of Participatory Ergonomics Interventions: A Systematic Review. Journal of Ergonomics. Vol. 53, No.10, October 2010, 1153-1166. Flin, R., Mearns, K., O’Connor, P., & Bryden, R. (2000). Measuring Safety Climate: Identifying The Common Features. Safety Science, 34, 177–192. International Ergonomics Association (2003). IEA Triennial Report 2000-2003. Santa Monica, CA: IEA Press. Izzran Sarrazin Mohammad (2011). Post Occupancy Evaluation of Building Performance In Malaysia. Thesis degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Facilities Management). Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Jabatan Keselamatan dan Kesihatan Pekerjaan (NIOSH) (2008). Garis Panduan Bagi Pengenalpasstian Hazard, Penaksiran Risiko dan Kawalan Risiko. Kementerian Sumber Manusia Malaysia. J. C. Vischer (2007). The Effects of the Physical Environment on Job Performance: Towards A Theoretical Model of Workspace Stress. Stress and Health 23: 175–184 (2007). Marilyn P. Rowan dan Philip C. Wright (1994). Ergonomics Is Good for Business. Work Study. Vol. 43, No. 8, 1994, pp. 7-12. MCB University Press. Maznah Mazlan (2011). Ucaptama YB Senator Dato’ Maznah Mazlan, Timbalan Menteri Sumber Manusia. Perasmian Seminar Keselamatan, Kesihatan Pekerjaan dan Alam Sekitar untuk Pengurusan Tertinggi TNB Kali Ke-3. Miles, A. K (2000). The Ergonomics and Organisational Sress Relationship. Florida State University School of Business.

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