Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) significantly impact on the health and productivity of the workers of labour-intensive industries. This paper presents the development and evaluation of intelligent tactile gloves for feedback or monitoring purposes to counteract WMSDs. Effort Reducing Gloves are designed using a Human-Centred Design (HCD) framework. They use force-sensitive resistors and inertial sensors to detect overuse strain in real time, teaching workers to change their movements. Extensive testing of the prototype demonstrated accuracy, ease and acceptability among users. The results indicate that these smart gloves could be an affordable and practical way to improve ergonomics at work and prevent WMSDs, further evidencing their potential application in ergonomic support tools. Worker Health: Especially in labour-intensive industries, WMSDs significantly impact workers’ health and productivity. This paper presents the development of intelligent tactile gloves for real-time feedback and monitoring to mitigate WMSDs. This work follows a Human-Centred Design (HCD) approach to develop gloves that detect and alert worker when excess force is applied by integrating force-sensitive resistors and inertial sensors thereby monitoring physical stress, enabling on-the-fly adjustments in their practice. The prototype was extensively tested with users, showing high precision, comfort, and user acceptance. The results indicate that such smart gloves offer a promising avenue for affordable and practical solutions in ergonomic support devices designed to mitigate WMSDs, with future work indicating the potential scope of ergonomic support.