Abstract
Although global demand for palm oil has been increasing, most activities in the oil palm plantations still rely heavily on manual labour, which includes fresh fruit bunch (FFB) harvesting and loose fruit (LF) collection. As a result, harvesters and/or collectors face ergonomic risks resulting in musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) due to awkward, extreme and repetitive posture during their daily work routines. Traditionally, indirect approaches were adopted to assess these risks using a survey or manual visual observations. In this study, a direct measurement approach was performed using Inertial Measurement Units, and surface Electromyography sensors. The instruments were attached to different body parts of the plantation workers to quantify their muscle activities and assess the ergonomics risks during FFB harvesting and LF collection. The results revealed that the workers generally displayed poor and discomfort posture in both activities. Biceps, multifidus and longissimus muscles were found to be heavily used during FFB harvesting. Longissimus, iliocostalis, and multifidus muscles were the most used muscles during LF collection. These findings can be beneficial in the design of various assistive tools which could improve workers' posture, reduce the risk of injury and MSD, and potentially improve their overall productivity and quality of life.
Highlights
Global demand for palm oil has been increasing, most activities in the oil palm plantations still rely heavily on manual labour, which includes fresh fruit bunch (FFB) harvesting and loose fruit (LF) collection
This study indicated that the upper trapezius, middle trapezius, lower trapezius, triceps, biceps, longissimus and multifidus muscles had the highest muscle activation during FFB harvesting
It was found that both lower back muscles which are responsible for back extension and back lateral bending, had high mean and peak EMG value
Summary
Both groups were briefed on the purpose and procedure of the experiment before written informed consent was obtained. They provided written informed consent for publication These experiments were conducted in a local Malaysia oil palm plantation. The Peak Dynamic Method (PDM)[36] was used in this study This method is known to be able to produce comparable and reliable results[36]. It uses the peak value of the muscle among the trials to normalize the EMG data, as defined in Eq (1). The normalized mean[27] and peak of the EMG signal of each muscle during these harvesting periods were determined, as shown in Eqs. The normalized mean[27] and peak of the EMG signal of each muscle during these harvesting periods were determined, as shown in Eqs. (1) and (2), respectively
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