Low cost ergonomic interventions to reduce risk factors for work related musculoskeletal disorders during dairy farming.

Abstract

Workers engaged in dairy farming are exposed to awkward and poor postures that may result in work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). This study carried out ergonomic interventions in order to eliminate and reduce awkward postures in dairy farming. This quasi-experimental study applied rapid entire body assessments (REBA) to evaluate the risks associated with each posture while performing the assigned tasks on a dairy farm in Iran to identify high and very high-risk tasks. A participatory ergonomics model was used that incorporated suggestions by dairy workers to design the used interventions. In the first intervention, by using an automatic transmission system for pouring milk, one high and one very high-risk task- pouring milk into a bucket and pouring milk from a bucket into a tank, respectively- were eliminated. In the second intervention, two high-risk tasks- filling corn containers and pouring corn into the milling machine- were eliminated by using a material conveying vacuum pump to transfer corn from the ground to the opening of the milling machine. In the third intervention, a simple and cheap holding device for the bag was designed to reduce the posture risk score from very high to medium. The fourth intervention involved the use of a shovel with a handle appropriate to the anthropometric characteristics of the workers that reduced the posture risk from very high to medium. The results indicated that applying participatory ergonomic principles along with low cost and simple designs with high performance resulted in significant reductions in postural risks pertaining to of musculoskeletal disorders on Iran dairy farms.