The environmental factors assessment in the building has become a popular research area

over the past decade. However, how the service life of a building affects the results of the

environmental assessment of a building has not been emphasized previously. The aim of

this study is to analyze how structural solutions and building design affect the results of the

environmental assessment. Furthermore, how the environmental factors affects the

productivity is analyzed. The environmental assessments in building were calculated for

this study by Environment Factors Equipment. The current situation and the future of the

environmental assessment of buildings are discussed. In addition, topics for further research

are suggested which is the environmental impact of an occupant should be studied. The

research concludes that comfort and productivity in the workplace is related more to design

factors

A. P. , Puvanasvaran

A. R. , Ismail

M. S. , Reza

N. , Jusoh

English

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) Repository

National Conference in Mechanical Engineering Research and Postgraduate Studies (2nd NCMER 2010)3-4 December 2010, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UMP Pekan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia; pp. 336-347ISBN: 978-967-0120-04-1; Editors: M.M. Rahman, M.Y. Taib, A.R. Ismail, A.R. Yusoff, and M.A.M. Romlay©Universiti Malaysia Pahang336A CASE STUDY OF OCCUPANT ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT ATAUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLY WORKSTATION1A.R. Ismail, 2N. Jusoh, 3A.P. Puvanasvaran and 1M.S. Reza1Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang26600 Pekan, Pahang, MalaysiaPhone: +609-4242268, Fax: +609-4242202Email: arasdan@gmail.com, rasdan@ump.edu.my2Department of Mechanical and Material EngineeringFaculty of Engineering and Build Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia3Faculty of Manufacturing EngineeringUniversiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)Ayer Keroh, 75450 Melaka, MalaysiaE-mail: punesh@utem.edu.myABSTRACTThe environmental factors assessment in the building has become a popular research areaover the past decade. However, how the service life of a building affects the results of theenvironmental assessment of a building has not been emphasized previously. The aim ofthis study is to analyze how structural solutions and building design affect the results of theenvironmental assessment. Furthermore, how the environmental factors affects theproductivity is analyzed. The environmental assessments in building were calculated forthis study by Environment Factors Equipment. The current situation and the future of theenvironmental assessment of buildings are discussed. In addition, topics for further researchare suggested which is the environmental impact of an occupant should be studied. Theresearch concludes that comfort and productivity in the workplace is related more to designfactors.Keywords: Comfort, environmental affect, productivityINTRODUCTIONComfort is a qualitative aspect of ergonomics. Several definitions of comfort anddiscomfort exist. Hertzberg (1972) stated and people are conscious of discomfort only.Therefore, he simply defined comfort as absence of discomfort and that zero discomfort isequal to absence of pain. Hedberg (1987) might have similar thoughts defining comfort asno pain and discomfort as pain. That is partly in agreement with results from aquestionnaire study (Zhang et al., 1996) about feeling associated with comfort anddiscomfort. They found that comfort was associated with a relaxed and less stressfulsituation where it is not necessary to think or concentrate at the task. Discomfort wasassociated with pain and ache.337When people discuss comfort relating to their daily life experiences, comfortnormally implies something positive. Though, Branton (1969) did not fully agree with this,stating that comfort does not necessarily entail a positive effect. Corlett and Bishop (1976)defined industrial comfort as; “a threshold level below which the operator would not bedistracted from his work”. They use pain synonymously with discomfort and suggested thatcontributing discomfort factors are posture and effort.As we known, one of the most concerned issues in our modern society is the healthcondition and environment factors could make relatively great contribution to people’shealth. We have created more comfortable and safe working and living conditions andfacilities to protect the health of public, and we have produced more types of qualifiedgoods for us to use but Fanger (1970) reminds us that the feeling of climate comfort issubjective and differs between individuals. So, unfortunately it is possible that differentpersons will have totally opposite opinions about the degree of comfort experienced.Furthermore, Reynolds (1993) stated the perception of comfort may also change over time.The goal and target of study is to test the influence of the differentiations in environment toworkers perception.METHODOLODYOne of the aspects of this field study is to study the environment factors in Hicom YamahaManufacturing Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. This environmental study is being done to study theeffect of environmental factors in workers daily work. This study is important because byhaving environmental data, we may know that whether the workers’ productivity andefficiency are being affected by current environment at their workplace. We can alsocompare the data that we get from this study to analyze on workers health problem whetherthe current working environment has resulted on them being unhealthy.By using the Environment Factor Equipment designed by UKM as illustrate asFigure 1, we collect several environmental data for six hours at Final InspectionWorkstation. Among the data that we collect using this equipment are carbon dioxide (CO2)level, pressure, humidity, wind speed, temperature, sound, illumination (lux), and globetemperature. We also match the data with the production output produced by the workers at10 minutes interval. The data summary of observations by experiment is being representedby the table below:National Conference in Mechanical Engineering Research and Postgraduate Studies (2nd NCMER 2010)3-4 December 2010, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UMP Pekan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia ; pp. 336-347ISBN: 978-967-0120-04-1; Editors: M.M. Rahman, M.Y. Taib, A.R. Ismail, A.R. Yusoff, and M.A.M. Romlay©Universiti Malaysia Pahang338Time CO2 Pressure HumidityWindspeed Temperature Sound LuxGlobeTemperatureProductionOutput (unit) Remark10:40:58 775.313 103.327 74.3 0.092 32.141 63.09 89.3 30.053 0 rest10:50:58 687.5 103.327 72.643 0.193 31.919 78.91 69.8 30.164 711:00:58 663.75 103.358 70.263 0.254 31.975 76.24 64.3 30.219 1511:10:58 640.625 103.358 69.174 0.325 31.869 62.29 45.9 30.219 1411:20:58 639.063 103.327 68.287 0.236 31.963 79.29 65 30.275 1511:30:58 636.563 103.358 67.863 0.191 32.078 68.45 69.7 30.386 1411:40:58 632.813 103.327 68.244 0.135 31.744 75.67 65.6 30.275 1311:50:58 621.563 103.358 71.773 0.662 31.419 74.01 65.5 30.164 1512:00:58 614.688 103.374 75.272 0.718 30.716 73.93 70.8 29.664 1512:10:58 620.938 103.327 75.526 0.518 30.344 71.26 88.1 29.108 1512:20:58 615.313 103.296 74.704 0.699 30.175 75.65 116.6 28.775 1412:30:58 610.938 103.296 75.497 0.466 30.316 77.7 193.5 28.608 1612:40:58 611.875 103.28 77.717 0.383 30.628 73.26 260.1 28.664 1512:50:58 604.688 103.233 74.929 0.204 31.163 76.81 368.7 29.053 1513:00:58 593.125 103.233 72.506 0.458 31.734 73.93 394.4 29.719 1413:10:58 591.25 103.171 66.513 0.595 32.731 61.68 372.7 30.553 0 rest13:21:05 591.25 103.171 66.513 0.595 32.731 61.68 372.7 30.553 0 rest13:30:58 607.5 103.124 63.842 0.398 33.297 62.83 295.5 31.886 0 rest13:40:58 590 103.124 63.144 0.649 33.287 61.93 148.8 32.164 0 rest13:50:58 582.5 103.124 62.071 0.148 33.319 73.47 194.1 32.108 7work start at13.4514:00:58 580 103.092 59.753 0.714 33.275 75.42 149 32.164 1514:10:58 580.313 103.077 58.807 0.406 33.597 74.77 213.6 32.275 1414:20:58 575.938 103.077 54.953 0.206 33.734 78.88 166.5 32.441 1414:30:58 577.188 103.014 56.707 0.222 33.825 71.66 241.3 32.553 1514:40:58 565.938 103.045 54.056 0.239 34.009 79.17 268.3 32.775 1514:50:58 564.375 102.998 53.756 0.271 34.266 76.72 137.6 32.997 1415:00:58 557.188 102.998 53.671 0.144 34.094 71.95 78.1 32.997 1433915:10:58 560.625 102.967 56.042 0.221 33.616 74.29 50.9 32.719 1515:20:58 549.688 102.967 56.622 0.149 33.222 78.78 77.2 32.386 1515:30:58 559.063 102.967 59.508 0.106 32.813 85.3 59.1 31.942 1415:40:58 557.5 102.967 60.291 0.17 32.244 61.7 118 31.442 0 rest15:50:58 554.688 102.967 62.919 0.245 32.503 74.65 134.3 31.164 1216:00:58 561.875 102.967 61.494 0.275 32.731 71.9 158.4 31.219 1516:10:58 565.625 102.967 59.186 0.101 33.016 73.1 157.6 31.497 1516:20:58 557.188 102.998 58.742 0.288 32.859 72.1 135.2 31.664 1616:30:58 555.313 102.951 58.034 0.245 32.759 71.77 134.7 31.608 1516:40:58 560.313 102.967 59.117 0.413 32.756 72.51 124.5 31.553 15From this table, we plot the graph of Production Output versus all the environmental variables collected.National Conference in Mechanical Engineering Research and Postgraduate Studies (2nd NCMER 2010)3-4 December 2010, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UMP Pekan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia; pp. 336-347ISBN: 978-967-0120-04-1; Editors: M.M. Rahman, M.Y. Taib, A.R. Ismail, A.R. Yusoff, and M.A.M. Romlay©Universiti Malaysia Pahang340Figure 1: Environment Factors EquipmentRESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe table above shows the overall pattern of the result which in this case is an acceptable,normal and harmless condition of environment. However, upon analyzing and comparingwith actual environmental standard, we found out several variables might ergonomicallybeing close to exceed the standard. The detail of each situation is being explained by eachgraph below.According to American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air ConditioningEngineers Inc (ASHRAE), the permissible CO2 level for workplace should be below than700ppm. As presents as Figure 2, we can compare to the data that we gathered, the highestreading was 775 ppm where the amount of CO2 is above the permissible level. This is dueto the fact that during that time, the product tested was 2 stroke cylinder engines. As weknow, 2 stroke cylinder engines produce more CO2 compared to 4 stroke cylinder engines.That is because after the testing process for the 2 stroke cylinder engines completed atapproximately 10.50 am, the level of CO2 begins to decrease. The reason is they wereswitching to 4 stroke cylinder engines at approximately 11.00 am. As a recommendation,Hicom Yamaha management should recheck and recalibrate their suction ventilationsystem. This is to prevent the CO2 from being leak to workers outside the testing chamber.341Figure 2: Comparison production output and CO2 assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationBased on a report published by US Environmental Protection Agency and USDepartment of Health and Human Services on Building Air Quality, air pressure level isbeing described as the air quantity that is supplied to and removed from a room. If more airis supplied than exhausted , the excess air leaks out of the space and the room is to be underpositive pressure. Meanwhile, negative pressure indicates that less air is supplied thanexhausted; the air is pulled in to the room. The Figure 3 shows the air pressure throughoutthe six hours period is constant at 103 N/m2. Although this figure seems quite high, it doesnot affect workers productivity if we compare it to production output during that period oftime.According to ANSI, humidity recommended is in the range of 30% to 60%.However, this range might not suit Malaysian climate since Malaysia is more humidcompared to US. That is why Malaysian Meteorological Department, based on the humiditysensor stationed at Petaling Jaya, recorded the range of relative humidity is between 78%and 98%. Figure 4 provides humidity varies throughout the six hours period. This isbecause during the study, the weather keeps changing from hot in the morning to rain in theafternoon and hot again after 4 pm. As for workers, they did experience a lot of bodysweating, especially at morning time and before rain started to pours. However, themanagement of Hicom Yamaha Manufacturing Malaysia tries to balance the humidity byputting several industrial fans at strategic area to make workers comfortable to theirworkplace.342Figure 3: Comparison production output and pressure assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationFigure 4: Comparison production output and humidity assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationAccording to ASHRAE, the recommended wind speed is 0.2 m/s. This is becauseaccording to their research, slow air movement contributes to a comfortable workingenvironment. This is because wind speed contributes to effective temperature (ET). Windspeed helps promotes improvement of humidity through convection and radiation. Based343on our data represented by the Figure 5, the wind speed varied throughout the six hoursperiod. This might be caused by the industrial fan located nearby the equipment and alsodue to the rain. However, in this case, wind speed did not affect the productivity of theworkers since they were producing constant output throughout the six hours period ofstudy.Figure 5: Comparison production output and wind speed assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationAccording to ASHRAE, the recommended room temperature should be from 19 oCand 26 oC. However in our study, Figure 6 shows that the room temperature for HicomYamaha is in range of 30 oC to 33 oC. This data presents that the workers might experienceunwanted heat due to the temperature of their working place. The effort of the managementof Hicom Yamaha to provide industrial fan in the workplace might help in reducinghumidity of the area but did not help in stabilizing the room temperature of that area.According to OSHA standard, the permissible exposure durations for various soundpressure levels are 8 hours for 90 db. Figure 7 provides the comparison production outputand sound assessment in Final Inspection Workstation. Since Hicom Yamaha workers atFinal Inspection area only exposed to average 80 db and their normal working hour isaround 8.5 hours per day, therefore we can assume that the amount of sound being exposedto the workers is acceptable according to OSHA standard. However, we did feel for QualityInspection workers who had to absorb consistent noise during the engine testing periodalthough we did not manage to get the data for that working area. Therefore for future studywe would like to measure the sound level in that area.According to Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, the recommendedillumination level is between category C and D where 150 to 350 lux are needed forcomfort working condition. However, in this case, as illustrate in Figure 8, we do thinkcategory C where 150 lux is acceptable due to the nature of the job. Based on the datacollected, we cannot help but notice the fluctuation of the luminance factor in this workingarea. This area light source mainly originated from the natural light source and pendarflour344lamp placed at that area. Therefore we can conclude that the luminance provided for theworkers to perform their function is not according to standard and the Hicom Yamahamanagement might need to improve their lighting system or luminance flow.Figure 6: Comparison production output and temperature assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationFigure 7: Comparison production output and sound assessment in Final InspectionWorkstation345Figure 8: Comparison production output and illuminantion assessment in Final InspectionWorkstationGlobe temperature is different from room temperature because globe temperaturereduces the risk of the heat strain. Normally, the reading should be 1 -2oC differencecompared to room temperature. In this case, based on the Figure 9, we can see that globetemperature differ from room temperature by 1 -2oC.Figure 9: Comparison production output and globe temperature assessment in FinalInspection Workstation346CONCLUSIONThe number of eight workers has been interviewed during the study. Range of the subjectsworking at the workstation is from 3 months to more than 5 years with age from 23 to 35year old. All of subjects agreed with the statement that they are not having health affectionwhile working at this workstation. They also rated that overall condition at working area issatisfactory.From management side, ergonomics is part of their consideration when dealing withman, machine and methodology, material and working environment. Example of industrialergonomics related activities currently being implemented are: Continuous training to all workers on environmental, safety and health. Health check to all workers at least once a year. Conduct periodical 5S and Safety audit to ensure all working area are in goodcondition at all situation and to identify any improvement required. Space of working areas for a subject decided based on recommendation by R&DDivision at Head Quarter, Japan. Employee Suggestion Scheme where employees are encouraged to give a suggestionto management for any improvement from quality, cost, delivery, safety and moralepoint of view. The practical suggestion will be implemented by management andreward will be given. However, there are rooms for improvement can be implemented to improve industrialergonomics at working area such as improvement of man-machine interaction whichto provide more effective instruction to workers when dealing with machines. Whenindustrial ergonomics were in place when necessary, it will helps organizationobtained a benefits by: Reduction of machine downtime due to proper man machine interaction. Productivity improvement when workers comfortable with the working area. Reduction of product rejection when workers able to give full concentration to theirtasks.REFERENCESASHRAE Standard 55-1992: Thermal environment conditions for human occupancy.ASHRAE, Atlanta.Branton, P., 1969. Behavior, body mechanics, and discomfort. In: Grandjean, E. (Ed.),Sitting Posture. Taylor & Francis, London.Corlett, E.N., Bishop, R.P., 1976. A technique for assessing postural discomfort.Ergonomics 19 (2): 175-182.Fanger, P.O., 1970. Thermal comfort. Danish Technical Press, Copenhagen.Hedberg, G., 1987. Epidemiological and ergonomical studies of professional drivers.Arbete och Halsa 9, Arbetarskyddsverket, Solna, Sweden.Hertzberg, H.T.E., 1972. The human buttock in sitting: pressures, patterns and palliatives.American Automobile Transactions 72: 39-47.IESNA Lighting Handbook, 9th Edition, 2006. Illuminating engineering society. New York.347OSHA Standard (Occupational Safety and Health Standards), United States Departments ofLabor, http://www.osha.gov/index.htmlReynolds, H.M., 1993. Automotive seat design for sitting comfort. In: Peacock, B.,Karwowski, W. (Eds), Automotive Ergonomics. Taylor & Francis, London.Zhang, L., Helander, M., Drury, G., 1996. Identifying factors of comfort and discomfort insitting. Human factors 38(3): 377-389.US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Health and Human Services.1991. Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers.SSOP, Washington DC, US Government Printing Office.

A CASE STUDY OF OCCUPANT ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT AT

AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLYWORKSTATION

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A CASE STUDY OF OCCUPANT ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT AT AUTOMOTIVE ASSEMBLYWORKSTATION

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