The work situations of the six production units of the large
shoe factory were classified into nine main types of work situation
according to a previous study in the French shoe
industry.7 The job titles of these groups of work situation were:
cutting (21 workers in 1996); preparation of the leather,
including supplying pieces of leather (sewing preparation) (23
workers); sewing (67 workers); assembly preparation (12
workers); mechanised assembling, including carding (26
workers); manual assembling (24 workers); pasting (13
workers); and finishing, including checking (27 workers) and
packing tasks (19 workers).
Risk factors for MSDs were assessed for each worker by