| Summary: | 碩士 === 嘉南藥理科技大學 === 產業安全衛生與防災研究所 === 100 === Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) have been recognized as a worsening occupational safety and health issue in developed, industrialized countries. WMSDs will impose severe threats to the health of laborers and the productivity of profit-seeking enterprises, society, and the country. To effectively prevent WMSDs, developed countries are committed to developing practical measures. Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a process adopted for wafer planarization. Although this process has been mostly automated, some steps still require manual handling and involve repetitive movements and unnatural postures, posing a high risk of musculoskeletal disorders. WMSDs have replaced chemical hazards and become the most serious labor safety and health issue (prioritization). The CMP process is a high risk process in this regard. In this study, the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) technique, proposed by the NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), was used to improve the ergonomics for nine CMP work stations at the plant of Cabot Microelectronics Corporation in Taiwan. Following the DMAIC technique, potential musculoskeletal hazards in the process were first identified (the define stage) and the ergonomics statistics from the work processes and work stations were measured and analyzed (Measure and Analyze stages) to assess the level of hazard risks and overall hazard risks. The Lifting Equation by the NIOSH was used as the index along with the REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) to categorize the hazard factors (three categories: unnatural posture, excessive manual force, and repetitive movements. Meanwhile, improvement plans were proposed according to those hazard factors (the Improve stage) and the improvement progress was tracked and evaluated afterward (the Control stage). The results revealed that after the DMAIC was implemented, the risks associated with potential musculoskeletal hazards were minimized for the following steps: feeding materials into chemical tanks, handling in warehouses, material lifting, handling at labs and PU pad examination. Specifically, significant improvement over the three hazard factor categories examined was observed and the REBA risks associated with the five steps were reduce from MH (medium to high) to L (Low). As verified in this study, the DMAIC technique cannot be used to devise specific improvement plans and the ergonomic department still needs further discussions and field experience before an effective plan can be created. Yet, an effective WMSD preventive measure is an important ergonomic improvement method that should be promoted.
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