Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.

Malaysia is the biggest crude palm oil exporter to the world market for the last 16 years. However this achievement is still be overshadowed by the harvesting method which is conventional and labor intensive. An attempt to use mechanization into the harvesting system, in particular the cutting proce...

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Main Authors: Jusoff, Kamaruzaman, Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: David Publishing Company 2009
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15762/1/Musculoskeletal%20disorders%20in%20oil%20palm%20fruit%20bunches%20harvesting%20in%20Malaysia.pdf
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author Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi
author_facet Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi
author_sort Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
collection UPM
description Malaysia is the biggest crude palm oil exporter to the world market for the last 16 years. However this achievement is still be overshadowed by the harvesting method which is conventional and labor intensive. An attempt to use mechanization into the harvesting system, in particular the cutting process of tall palm trees, has been unsuccessful. At the beginning of the oil palm's fruit bearing life, i.e. 3 to 4 years of age, fruit bunches are still accessible. For these palms, a chisel is used to cut the fruit bunches. Growth is such 8-10 years, and the trees have already reached substantial height. In these cases a sickle mountedon flexible telescopic aluminum tube (pole) is used. This, however, exposes plantation worker to the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort and injury. This paper examines the problems by assessing the task posture and tool, and their implications for operators, using questionnaire survey and videotape analysis techniques. The result prevails that there is evidence to associate the problems of musculoskeletal disorders among the operators.
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spelling upm.eprints-157622015-10-09T07:12:12Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15762/ Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia. Jusoff, Kamaruzaman Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi Malaysia is the biggest crude palm oil exporter to the world market for the last 16 years. However this achievement is still be overshadowed by the harvesting method which is conventional and labor intensive. An attempt to use mechanization into the harvesting system, in particular the cutting process of tall palm trees, has been unsuccessful. At the beginning of the oil palm's fruit bearing life, i.e. 3 to 4 years of age, fruit bunches are still accessible. For these palms, a chisel is used to cut the fruit bunches. Growth is such 8-10 years, and the trees have already reached substantial height. In these cases a sickle mountedon flexible telescopic aluminum tube (pole) is used. This, however, exposes plantation worker to the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort and injury. This paper examines the problems by assessing the task posture and tool, and their implications for operators, using questionnaire survey and videotape analysis techniques. The result prevails that there is evidence to associate the problems of musculoskeletal disorders among the operators. David Publishing Company 2009 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15762/1/Musculoskeletal%20disorders%20in%20oil%20palm%20fruit%20bunches%20harvesting%20in%20Malaysia.pdf Jusoff, Kamaruzaman and Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi (2009) Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 3 (7). pp. 64-67. ISSN 1934-8932 English
spellingShingle Jusoff, Kamaruzaman
Zainuddin, Muhammad Fauzi
Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title_full Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title_fullStr Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title_full_unstemmed Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title_short Musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in Malaysia.
title_sort musculoskeletal disorders in oil palm fruit bunches harvesting in malaysia
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/15762/1/Musculoskeletal%20disorders%20in%20oil%20palm%20fruit%20bunches%20harvesting%20in%20Malaysia.pdf
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