Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India
Background: Apart from cereal production (rice, wheat, etc.) agricultural labourers are engaged in vegetable cultivation in West Bengal, India. Potato cultivation is one of the important vegetable cultivation in India. The potato cultivation tasks are repetitive in nature and those are carried out m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Occupational Health and Safety Society of Nepal
2016-03-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/IJOSH/article/view/14664 |
| _version_ | 1818789351639744512 |
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| author | Amitava Pal Sujaya De Piyali Sengupta Payel Maity Prakash C. Dhara |
| author_facet | Amitava Pal Sujaya De Piyali Sengupta Payel Maity Prakash C. Dhara |
| author_sort | Amitava Pal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Apart from cereal production (rice, wheat, etc.) agricultural labourers are engaged in vegetable cultivation in West Bengal, India. Potato cultivation is one of the important vegetable cultivation in India. The potato cultivation tasks are repetitive in nature and those are carried out mainly by manual efforts. Most of the tasks of potato cultivation are monotonous, strenuous, physiologically demanding as well as time-consuming.
Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and postural stress among male workers engaged in different potato cultivation jobs.
Methods: The study was conducted on 163 male potato cultivators in different districts of West Bengal state. A modified Nordic Questionnaire and Body Part Discomfort scale were applied to identify MSDs in different body parts. The postural pattern was assessed by direct observation method. The postural stress was analyzed by OWAS, REBA and QEC methods.
Result: The results show that the prevalence of MSDs was very high among the workers and the most affected areas were back and upper extremity. Postural analysis indicated that the subjects had to adopt different stressful postures during performing different potato cultivation jobs. During potato harvesting operation the workers were subjected to greater postural stress than that of other tasks.
Conclusion: Postural stress might be the reason of the occurrence of MSDs. From this study it has been recommended that workers should avoid bad work postures as far as possible during work for reducing job related health hazards.
International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Vol 4 No 2 (2014) 05 – 14 |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T14:38:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-67f66f81dcb1475a8895a4c841670aa5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2091-0878 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T14:38:11Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | Occupational Health and Safety Society of Nepal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-67f66f81dcb1475a8895a4c841670aa52022-12-21T21:04:27ZengOccupational Health and Safety Society of NepalInternational Journal of Occupational Safety and Health2091-08782016-03-014210.3126/ijosh.v4i2.14664Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, IndiaAmitava Pal0Sujaya De1Piyali Sengupta2Payel Maity3Prakash C. Dhara4Ergonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore– 721102, West BengalErgonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore– 721102, West BengalErgonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore– 721102, West BengalErgonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore– 721102, West BengalErgonomics and Sports Physiology Division, Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore– 721102, West BengalBackground: Apart from cereal production (rice, wheat, etc.) agricultural labourers are engaged in vegetable cultivation in West Bengal, India. Potato cultivation is one of the important vegetable cultivation in India. The potato cultivation tasks are repetitive in nature and those are carried out mainly by manual efforts. Most of the tasks of potato cultivation are monotonous, strenuous, physiologically demanding as well as time-consuming. Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and postural stress among male workers engaged in different potato cultivation jobs. Methods: The study was conducted on 163 male potato cultivators in different districts of West Bengal state. A modified Nordic Questionnaire and Body Part Discomfort scale were applied to identify MSDs in different body parts. The postural pattern was assessed by direct observation method. The postural stress was analyzed by OWAS, REBA and QEC methods. Result: The results show that the prevalence of MSDs was very high among the workers and the most affected areas were back and upper extremity. Postural analysis indicated that the subjects had to adopt different stressful postures during performing different potato cultivation jobs. During potato harvesting operation the workers were subjected to greater postural stress than that of other tasks. Conclusion: Postural stress might be the reason of the occurrence of MSDs. From this study it has been recommended that workers should avoid bad work postures as far as possible during work for reducing job related health hazards. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, Vol 4 No 2 (2014) 05 – 14https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/IJOSH/article/view/14664MSDsWork PosturePosture AnalysisWork ExperiencePotato Cultivation Jobs |
| spellingShingle | Amitava Pal Sujaya De Piyali Sengupta Payel Maity Prakash C. Dhara Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health MSDs Work Posture Posture Analysis Work Experience Potato Cultivation Jobs |
| title | Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India |
| title_full | Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India |
| title_fullStr | Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India |
| title_short | Ergonomic Evaluation of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Postural Stress among Male Potato Cultivators of West Bengal, India |
| title_sort | ergonomic evaluation of work related musculoskeletal disorders and postural stress among male potato cultivators of west bengal india |
| topic | MSDs Work Posture Posture Analysis Work Experience Potato Cultivation Jobs |
| url | https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/IJOSH/article/view/14664 |
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