Ergonomics and the handling of materials

• Author: International Labour Organization
• Pages: 57-65

Meetings-MESHA-Final Code-2010-10-0355-1-En.doc/v2 57

9. Ergonomics and the handling of materials

9.1. Introduction

9.1.1. Ergonomic factors affect the health outcomes of agricultural workers. These

include:

– the nature of the physical work environment (noise, heat, lighting, thermal comfort),

the agricultural tasks to be performed;

– the technology applied to the prescribed tasks (including workplace design, facility

design, and agricultural material handling);

– the manner in which tasks are organized (including use of shift work); and

– worker characteristics (including demographics, physiology, human error, and

identification and treatment of injured workers).

9.1.2. Agricultural work can span a wide range of tasks from arduous to sedentary,

from stooping, reaching, bending, and carrying out repetitive movements in awkward body

positions to sitting in air-conditioned or heated comfort while operating sophisticated

agricultural equipment. Economic, topographical, technical, gender-based and even socio-

cultural factors may limit mechanization or usage, and where implemented, may introduce

new ergonomic risk resulting from equipment design and vibration. Huge technological

challenges to design and introduction of technology to replace manual labour remain

within many agricultural worksites. There is still extensive reliance on manual labour.

9.2. Hazard description

9.2.1. Routes of exposure

9.2.1.1. Many agricultural work environments are characterized by labour-intensive

practices such as manual seeding (transplanting rice, fresh vegetables, or horticultural

products), crop maintenance (weeding, pruning, grafting, or hand tillage), harvest (hand

picking of fresh fruits and vegetables, copra, or kapok), or post-harvest activities

(inspection, packing, or loading/shipping).

9.2.1.2. Agricultural work may be conducted in hot and/or humid, or cold

environments; both indoors and outdoors (see Chapter 17).

9.2.1.3. Work may be performed on agricultural terrain or within building structures

which, in the absence of appropriate footwear, handrails, and non-slip flooring, may

predispose workers to slips, falls, and off-balance whole-body recovery, thereby causing or

exacerbating the potential for musculoskeletal injury.

9.2.1.4. Visual and acoustic cues and information for workers may be degraded due

to physical characteristics of the work environment, including vibration of visual displays

and machine controls, thereby subjecting workers to deficient task decisions.