• Nabila Rehman
• Namrata Arora Charpe

In retail stores, checkout operators play pivotal role in the system by executing repetitive manual material handling tasks throughout the job. The nature of job often leads to various occupational hazards among the operators of which work related musculoskeletal disorders tops the list. Therefore the study was conducted to investigate the workstation of 28 checkout operators of retail stores on four major tasks such as unloading merchandise from trolley, scanning, bagging and monetary transaction at the checkstand. Samples were interviewed using self-reported charts. Also observation of the checkout workstation was carried out with the help of Workplace Ergonomic Risk Assessment (WERA) method. The wrist score for WERA body part was >4 in 64% of workers, while wrist pain or discomfort was reported by 67.85%, yielded a significant association between WERA body part score and self-reported pain (χ2 = 5.53; p = 0.01).The WERA body part score for the leg regions while carrying out checkout operation at conventional workstation yielded a score >4 in 32.14% caused shoulder pain or discomfort in 35.7%, the association being significant (χ2 = 5.53; p = 0.01). The feet regions for WERA body part score was >4 in 78.57% of workers, with 89.28% reporting pain or discomfort in the back regions, with a significant association (χ2 = 5.54; p = 0.01). Results revealed that checkout workstations’ relationship with the individual WERA body part scores lead to development of pain or discomfort which was statistically significant for the wrist/hand, leg and feet regions. Therefore it can be concluded that existing checkout workstation lead to musculoskeletal disorders along with pains and aches among checkout operators and need to be redesigned as soon as possible.

Retail, work related musculoskeletal disorders, risk assessment.

"Risk Assessment of workstation used by checkout operators in retail industry ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no.223-227, March-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1903290.pdf

"Risk Assessment of workstation used by checkout operators in retail industry ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no. pp223-227, March-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1903290.pdf