Correlation between “Pointing and Calling” method in manufacturing and degree of fatigue at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant

Abstract

“Pointing and calling” refers to pointing at important indicators and calling out the name and status for the purpose of safety confirmation and human error prevention. In Japan, pointing and calling is recommended in every industry as an effective safety measure, and it is widely practiced in medical settings and manufacturing. This study examined changes in the degree of physical and mental fatigue and the amount of human error with the increase in amount of pointing and calling in an actual production line at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. We measured the degree of fatigue of the arms, mouth, eyes, and feet, and mental fatigue of 30 workers at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the Fukushima Prefecture at the end of a work day over the span of 10 days using a visual analogue scale. Next, the workers were asked to perform three times as much pointing and calling as they usually did. The degree of fatigue was similarly measured for 10 days and then compared with the previous results. In comparison with the period during which the usual amount of pointing and calling was performed, the degree of fatigue of the arms and eyes and mental fatigue significantly increased during the period when the amount of pointing and calling was increased threefold (p <0.05). No significant change in the degree of fatigue of the mouth and feet was observed. Further, no human error occurred during the entire period of this study. The findings suggest that increasing the amount of pointing and calling may increase the degree of fatigue experienced by workers, while it may not affect the amount of human error in the short term. However, the period of observation (20 days) in this study may not have been sufficient to capture adequately the changes in the amount of human error. The relation between the amount of pointing and calling and human error needs to be examined further by conducting long-term observations.