Ergonomic Design and Evaluation of Cloth-Pulling Devices for Praewa Silk Weavers

<ns7:p>Background Traditional weaving professionals pull cloth manually during the handloom process, which can lead to several unnoticed musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate the effectiveness of cloth-pulling devices for Praewa silk weavers in Thailand. Methods An experimental trial was conducted using surface electromyography to evaluate weavers’ muscle activity, productivity and perceived satisfaction during the Praewa silk-pulling process while employing traditional cloth pulling, using a standard cloth-pulling device and using an ergonomic prototype cloth-pulling device. Results The results showed that the levels of muscle activity and hand activity with the prototype design were generally lower than those with traditional cloth pulling and with the standard cloth-pulling device (p < 0.01). There was a significant preference for the prototype, based on productivity and perceived satisfaction (p < 0.01). Conclusions The new cloth-pulling device was found to be applicable and acceptable among the weavers. Further research is needed to make appropriate revisions to the ergonomically designed tool based on ergonomic measurements of muscle activity and fatigue under field production conditions.</ns7:p>