Task loading of soldering workers in small-scale manufacturing units.

Soldering is common in electrical product manufacturing, but the task load in small units is unquantified. Therefore, this study aimed to establish the occurrence of task load due to soldering work, analyzing the effects of age and sex among workers in small manufacturing units. The task load of 102 soldering workers from four small-scale manufacturing units was assessed using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire, covering six dimensions: physical demand, mental demand, temporal demand, effort, performance and frustration. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, the Kruskal-Wallis test and ordinal regression, considering age, sex and work characteristics as independent variables. Age and work characteristics significantly influenced task loading, with a high prevalence of physical, mental and temporal demands and effort among soldering workers. These findings could lead to interventions in terms of the workstation design.