ERGONOMICS RISK ASSESSMENT AND HEALTH RISK AMONG RUBBER FARMERS: A PILOT CASE STUDY OF SABAYOI DISTRICT, SONGKHLA PROVINCE
Keywords:
RULA, REBA, health risk, rubber farmers, ergonomicAbstract
This cross-sectional descriptive study among rubber plantation farmers had the purpose to assess the ergonomic risk among 30 rubber farmers of a pilot case study of Sabayoi district, Songkhla province, that was randomly sampled to represent the area of every village in Khuha subdistrict, divided into rubber tapping farmers and latex collecting farmers. Data was collected by using the ergonomic risk assessment of RULA, REBA, and the self-assessment of Musculoskeletal Disorders Severity and Frequency questionnaire (MSFQ). Occupational health risk assessment was used as a risk matrix for musculoskeletal disorders risk assessment. The results of ergonomic risk assessment of rubber farmers in the rubber tapping process by RULA found that most of them had a high risk (69.23%), followed by a very high risk (23.08%). The REBA showed that most of them had a high risk (84.62%). The result of ergonomic risk assessment of rubber farmers in the latex collection process by RULA found that most of them had a very high risk (82.35%), followed by a high risk (17.65%) and REBA indicated that most of them had a very high risk (76.47%), followed by a high risk (23.53%). The occupational health risk of farmers in the rubber tapping process showed that the highest risk was at very high health risk level (53.85%), and MSDs health risk of farmers in the process of collecting latex was a very high level of risk (47.06%), which meant that the working posture and conditions must be implemented immediately. The results of the study indicate that the health risks of rubber plantation farmers may arise from repetitive and awkward posture and inappropriate postures in a prolonging period might affect musculoskeletal health disorders in the long term. Therefore, occupational health risk should be assessed with a risk matrix in rubber plantation farmers in Songkhla Province by using an appropriate tool of risk assessment to MSDs as a guide to prevent musculoskeletal disease.
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