This study presents guidelines to evaluate the impacts of lean production (LP) on working conditions of front-line workers. The guidelines were tested in a case study carried out in the assembly line of a heavy machinery agricultural manufacturer. In the beginning, it was assessed the extent to which LP enablers were adopted in the assembly line. The assessment tool was a checklist that was filled out based on fifteen interviews with managers and supervisors. Then, the following activities were undertaken: (a) interviews with six safety specialists, one safety engineer and three groups formed by ten workers, in order to detect their perceptions on both negative and positive impacts of LP; (b) application of two types of questionnaires - one of them had the objective of evaluating perceptions on current working conditions and the other aimed to evaluate perceptions on differences between the old and the current production system; (c) a feedback meeting to discuss the questionnaires results with workers. Overall, the results pointed out that workers had a positive perception on their working environment and that working conditions have improved since LP was adopted.
Lean production; ergonomics; health and safety
