Glass bangle making is a labor intensive industry in India employing hundreds of thousands of workers. A study of working conditions in the industry found that workers face extreme heat, lack of breaks and safety equipment, poor sanitation, and repetitive motions that can cause musculoskeletal disorders. Analyzing worker postures identified risks like deviated wrists, lifting, and forceful exertions. High noise levels were also recorded. Recommendations included implementing engineering controls to reduce heat and radiation, training workers, providing adequate facilities, and switching jobs to prevent strain.

1. ERGONOMICS
GLASS BANGLE MAKING INDUSTRY
Presented by- Antara Paul
Drishti Saraswat
Shreeti Sudeepta Mishra

2. ERGONOMICS
• Scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among
humans and other elements of a system

3. WORK PLACE DESIGN
An arrangement in the workplace that has the objective of
overcoming employee alienation and job dissatisfaction that comes
about from mechanical and repetitive tasks in the workplace

4. ERGONOMICS STUDY ON-
GLASS BANGLE MAKING INDUSTRY

5. WHY ERGONOMICS
• To improve productivity, safety, and quality in manufacturing industries
• Some of the common problems of the small scale and unorganised
sector industries are improper workplace design, ill-structured jobs,
mismatch between workers abilities and job demands

6. WHY ERGONOMICS…
• They lead to workplace hazards, poor workers’ health, mechanical
equipment injuries, Work related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs)
and in turn reduce worker productivity and product/work quality

7. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY
• Glass Bangle making industry is
one of the most labor extensive
industries in India
• Firozabad is the main hub for this
industry employing upto four lakh
glass and bangle workers

8. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY…
The industry comprises of these basic steps of manufacturing-
• Coloring- Addition of metal and metal oxides with pigments and dyes
as coloring agents
• Shaping- Giving the bangles spherical shapes with the help of
traditional furnaces and silica sand
• Soldering the joints- Joining the two points of spherical bangle

9. OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY…
• Straightening and bending- Giving desired forms and shapes to
bangles
• Decorating of bangles- Different finishes like glittering, transparent
finishes etc. are given to the bangles

11. WORKING CONDITIONS OF WORKERS
• filthy workplace with immense heat and harsh
sounds
• non-availability of work schedule
• no lunch break for the workers
• lack of safety gears for workers
• usage of outdated tools for labors working in
the furnace- prevailing in the factories
Each bangle passes
through 70 to 80 hands
before it is ready for sale
and each family or
production house is
responsible for one stage
of bangle making.

12. WORKING CONDITIONS OF WORKERS…
• Working condition for women-labors, who are usually
employed in factories to clean the molten glass is even
worse
• Out of four lakh estimated workers only one lakh fall
under the category of organized worker
• Unorganized workers cannot access the benefit of
several central and state run social schemes

13. WORKING CONDITIONS OF WORKERS…
• No first aid facilities and primary medical services are provided in most
of the industries
• No proper arrangement of restrooms and urinals available
• According to a glass factory owner Shyam Babu, “There are only three
urinals and seven toilets in his factory where more than thousand labors
work 24x7; about 250 to 300 people work in single shift of eight hours”

14. PROBLEMS FACED
40% of workers experienced maximum discomfort in the
lower lumbar region while 4% noted that their minimum
discomfort was in the forearm
•Skin burns, allergies and decline in vision is also very
common in these workers

15. PROBLEMS FACED…
• Chest and lungs disorders-They mostly suffer from tuberculosis or other fatal
infections of the lungs and chest.
• Heat Stroke-Heat stroke is the most serious of health problems associated with
working in hot environments
• Heat Exhaustion-Heat exhaustion includes several clinical disorders having
symptoms which may resemble the early symptoms of heat stroke

16. PROBLEMS FACED…
• Fainting- A worker who is not accustomed to hot environments and who
stands erect and immobile in the heat may faint
• Heat Cramps- Heat cramps are painful spasms of the muscles that occur
among those who sweat profusely in heat, drink large quantities of water,
but do not adequately replace the body's salt loss
• Heat Rashes- Heat rash, also known as prickly heat, is likely to occur in hot
condition

17. Heating & rolling lacquer lump Colour of lacquer lump in
bangle manufacturing Joining cylinders from lacquer lump
Sizing tender bangle against a
reference wooden cylinder
Fitting semi-precious jewels on tender
bangles
Upper arm abduction & forward
flexion

18. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT
• Implementation of suitable engineering controls to reduce heat and
radiations
• Education and training to workers about sitting postures, hazards etc.
• Worker should use glasses for safety his eyes from excessive heat
• Instead of coal natural gas can be used as an alterative fuel

19. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT…
• An investment for safe and healthy behaviour among the workers,
factory owners and others
• Providing rest breaks between their sessions
• Switching over alternate jobs with in the organization can be
suggested

20. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT…
• Proper number of restrooms should be provided for male and female
workers in the workplace
• Proper arrangement of drinking water should be done for avoiding
heat cramps and heat strokes

21. CASE STUDY-I
EXPERIMENT
• The cardiac cost of work and recovery pulse rates were evaluated in 38 glass
bangle workers (mean age 27.8 years) exposed to radiant heat (46.2°C) and high
ambient temperature (38.2°C) for a mean period of 11.0 years in a glass bangle
industry in Firozabad was made
• A reference group of 15 controls (mean age 27.0 years), unexposed to
occupational heat stress served as a comparison

22. CASE STUDY-I
RESULTS
• The results showed that the pulse rate increased from a mean base value of 80.0
beats/min to 113.2 beats/min in the exposed workers while in the controls the
increase was negligible
• Thus the cardiac cost of work was found to be 33.2 beats/min, in the exposed
group which was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than 7.8 beats/min, observed in
the control group

23. CASE STUDY-I
• Among the exposed workers, ‘belanias’, who were engaged in the strenuous job of
manually rotating the iron roller in the Belan furnace so that the molten glass could be
wound in a spiral form, showed maximum increase in pulse rate (42.0 beats/min) over
the work-shift followed by ‘muthias’ (31.1 beats/min) who were engaged in removing
the glass spirals from the Belan furnace
• However, wiremen (‘tarkashs’), who were engaged in highly skilled job of making very
fine threads of molten glass with the help of an iron roller, showed the smallest increase
(19.5 beats/min) in pulse rate over the work-shift

24. CASE STUDY-I
CONCLUSION
• These findings suggest that the work practices in glass bangle industry need
revising to include a proper work-rest schedule to avoid circulatory strain in
excessive heat to which glass bangle workers are exposed
• Implementation of suitable engineering controls in order to reduce the level of
environmental heat and thermal radiation

25. CASE STUDY- II
• The objective of this study was to analyse the working postures of
workers engaged in various activities carried out in a glass bangle
making industry, by applying different postural analysis tools, and to
identify the various risk factors associated with Musculo skeletal
disorders

26. CASE STUDY- II…
• The study was carried out in glass bangle making industry situated in
northern Karnataka in India where thousands of workers are engaged
in these activities
• As it is an unorganized sector, no statistical data are available to date
as to the accident rates occurred, the number of people employed,
and other problems

27. CASE STUDY- II…
• The only means of these data were through conversations and direct
dialogue with the people associated with this profession
• Most of the work is manual, involving manual lifting and working
indicating that there was poor standing and lots of deviated wrist
positions, accompanied by forceful exertions which led to musculo
skeletal disorders

28. CASE STUDY- II…
METHODOLOGY
• Questionnaire and interview technique
• Direct observation and activity analysis
• Visual Analogue Scale
• Postural analysis
• Noise Assessment

29. CASE STUDY- II…
RESULTS
• The survey was used for mapping the different areas of pain, the results also showed
that the discomfort frequency among the workers was frequently i.e. once a week for
almost 65% of the workers, and discomfort intensity of severe among 33% workers
and moderate among 47% and mild among the 20% workers, the duration of intensity
was observed to be within 1 to 24 hrs among 75-80% of the workers

30. CASE STUDY- II…
• Noise levels generated in operations have been reported to vary from
80dB up to 120dB
• It is well recognised in industry that noise is a serious problem with
cutting. One of the unique features of the noise associated with
bangle making industry is its intermittent nature.

31. CONCLUSION
• Musculoskeletal disorders arise due to working in bad postures which
shows a need to change the body postures
• Lack of ergonomics planning and methods in these sectors
• workers are under moderate to high risk of Musculoskeletal disorders
(MSDs)
• Right tools are not available to carry out effective routine
maintenance

32. CONCLUSION…
• The techniques like strain revealed the work is done frequently without
desired breaks and attentions to safe work environment is not adequate
• Most operations carried out are largely supported by manual handling
which often results in overexertion and a long term health hazards
• Personal Protection devices such as earmuff or plug, hand gloves are not
used adequately
• Dust and glass wastes are not properly disposed.