Abstract
Occupational health and safety allows the prevention of occupational diseases and accidents. Agriculture is one of the sectors in which it is important to prevent the musculoskeletal disorders that workers usually develop. The objective of this study is the evaluation of postures adopted by courgette farmers in greenhouses of the Almeria-type. OWAS (Ovako Working Posture Assessment System), an ergonomic evaluation method, is used and applied after making observations to the postures adopted by the workers who were previously video recorded. The results concluded that the four risk levels established by OWAS appeared, with 37.14% being the highest rate and belonging to risk level 2, 33.33% to risk level 1, 28.57% to risk level 3, and 0.95% to risk level 4. Therefore, depending on the severity of the postures adopted in each task, the need for changes in a short, medium, or long period of time was concluded.
Highlights
As shown (Table 4), the highest risk level is identified only in a position of all those according to the task
Using the OWAS method it is possible to obtain the results of relative frequency or repetition rate and risk level for each body parts
The results show that the most harmful postures adopted were for the bent back and standing or squatting on two bent legs, with a repetition rate of 64.76% and 19.05%, respectively (Table 6)
Summary
Companies implement health and safety management systems for their workers [2]. The implementation of these management systems allows the prevention of occupational diseases and accidents. It contributes to achieve numerous improvements in companies related to aspects such as competitiveness, the involvement of workers in the company thanks to their motivation, and cost reduction [3]. Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common occupational diseases. The prevention of these disorders positively affects companies and the health of workers [4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
