A thematic analysis on work safety and ergonomics issues in Indonesian food-producing SMEs

Abstract

Food-producing SMEs in a developing country like Indonesia involve a lot of physical work, as most of them are operating with manual equipment with high involvement of humans as workers. Due to its manual characteristic, work safety and Ergonomics and Human Factors (E/HF) are some major factors influencing the food-producing SMEs’ activities. The objective of this research was to understand work safety and ergonomics problems in the Indonesian food-producing SMEs. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 11 owners and workers of three different types of products of Indonesian food-producing SMEs. Thematic analysis on the interview identified themes and sub-themes related to work safety and ergonomics issues, explaining the experiences of Indonesian food-producing SMEs. These consultations indicated that there may be some unsafe conditions, exposure to various work hazards and ergonomics issues were found. The owners and workers of the SMEs seemed to be aware of the unsafe working conditions and ergonomics issues, though the reasons for why changes have not been implemented are not yet known. The owners and workers are keen on making improvements, but there are several limitations, e.g. inadequate understanding and cost consideration. This type of interview study has been effective in collecting opinions and explanations of working conditions from people with different perspectives of the food producing SMEs and the thematic analysis has increased understanding of the different factors that can affect safety in this type of work.