The effects of a Farm Work Safety Project

 

Byung-Chang Son¹, So-Yeon Park²*

¹Department  of  Rehabilitation  Technology,  Korea Nazarene University, 48 Wolbong-ro, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, 31172, Korea

²Occupational Therapy, Hanseo University, 46 Hanseo1-ro, Hami-Myun, Seosan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, 31962, Korea

 

ABSTRACT:

Background/Objectives: The objective of this paper was to present the results of a study aimed at improving assistive equipment applying ergonomics and occupational therapy, as well as an exercise program at farms in Korea.

Methods/Statistical analysis: The Korean Rural Development Administration's Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work is expected to reduce the injury and illness potential for farm workers. Thus, this study is intended to ergonomically evaluate assistive equipment and provide exercises to prevent musculoskeletal disorders to improve the physical functioning of farm workers.

Findings: The farmers’ ratings of perceived fatigue were improved by 94.6% and their risk of the occurrence of musculoskeletal diseases was decreased by 53%. The 21 participants in the musculoskeletal disease prevention exercise program showed statistically significant improvements in their physical competence such as lower-extremity muscular endurance, balance ability, and flexibility (p<0.05).

Improvements/Applications: This study confirmed the effects of “The Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work” conducted in South Korea’s rural areas and an exercise program. Future studies are required to examine their effects on the participants’ quality of life.

 

 

 

 

1 INTRODUCTION:

Agriculture is one of the world’s three most dangerous industries. It involves workers’ large physical burdens and has high levels of safety accidents. In particular, safety accidents have recently increased with aging and feminization in South Korea’s rural areas¹. Because farmers are highly likely to deal with heavy objects, take repetitive work postures, and use improper work methods, musculoskeletal diseases are the most frequent type of diseases among farmers².

 

The equipment for humans can be safely and convenient used when it is designed to suit their physical, cognitive, and sensory characteristics. This particularly applies to the design of equipment for the elderly whose various functions are weakened due to aging.

 

A study by Vandervoort³ on physical changes with aging reported that the muscular strength that can be voluntarily generated decreases by up to 80% with the progress of aging. Larsson⁴ reported that muscular strength is well maintained until the age of 50, but declines by 15% every 10 years between the ages of 50 and 70. Danneskiod-Samson et al⁵ reported that muscular strength drops by up to 30% at the ages of 70 to 80. A study on the muscular strength of hands⁶ also reported that the muscular strength of women in their 60s is about 15.6% lower than that of women in their 30s. Schneider and Pichora-Fuller⁷ conducted a study on cognitive changes with aging, and stated that the weakening of cognitive functions with aging are also shown in high-level visual processes such as peripheral vision and motion perception. McDowd and Shaw⁸ noted that this weakening is pronounced in tasks requiring attention, such as divided attention. Sensory changes also occur with aging. The size of the pupil decreases, thereby narrowing visual fields⁹, and the subsequent increase in the thickness of the crystalline lens produces foreign substances that lead to changes in color perception. In specific, problems occur in the stimulation of short-wave light energy (purple to blue) rather than long-wave light energy (red to yellow)¹⁰. In addition, 80% of the elderly in their 70s, 92% of those in their 80s, and 100% of those in their 90s are reported to have hearing impairment¹¹.

 

However, most of South Korea’s farming machines are not carefully designed for the elderly, and thus these are not only user-friendly, but also have the risk of safety accidents and lead to actual accidents. The rate of safety accidents in South Korea’s rural areas nearly doubles that of the general industry¹², and the incidence of musculoskeletal diseases in the rural areas is at a serious level of nearly 80%¹³.

 

As a measure to respond to this situation, the Korean Rural Development Administration has been carrying out a national project titled “The Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work” since 2008. The purpose of this project is to reduce the occurrence of safety accidents and the number of patients with musculoskeletal diseases in rural areas by supplying the equipment that can replace or assist manpower in narrow spaces that cannot accommodate large farming machines or for simple tasks, and by spreading musculoskeletal disease prevention exercises for preventive purposes. To this end, farming tasks are assessed by experts and proper measures are established, the assistive equipment fit for the characteristics of workers are developed and improved, and exercise programs for the prevention of musculoskeletal diseases are implemented.

 

The musculoskeletal disease prevention exercise programs have been conducted in various manners in South Korea, including the use of elastic bands^14,15, spinal stabilization exercises¹⁶, and the combination of muscle strengthening and flexibility exercises^17-19. These were effective in improving the functions of patients with musculoskeletal diseases.

 

Therefore, this study aimed to verify the effects of “The Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work”, a main project targeting South Korea’s rural areas, by objectively measuring the effects of the assistive equipment and the exercise program applied in the villages assigned for the pilot project.

 

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS:

2.1. Introduction of the pilot project for improvements in the farm work environment:

The Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work has been implemented by the Korean Rural Development Administration since 2008 to reduce the burden of  labor, improve work efficiency, and create the farming environment that allows even elderly or female farmers to work safely and efficiently by supplying the equipment fit for the characteristics of each crop and region. The project is carried out by experts in charge of each region according to the flow in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1. Flow of the Project

 

2.2 Target Village:

The assigned village was Chungcheongnam-do, which is in the middle of Korea. The major crop in this area is chives. There were 30 farmers in this village, most between 55 and 80 years of age. Female workers comprised more than 50% of all workers; thus, it was determined that married couples worked together.

 

2.3 The process of the Pilot Assistive Equipment Project for Agricultural Work: 

This study was conducted in five steps. In the first step, the current situation, including demographic information and the general working environment, were evaluated. Interviews were conducted with the agricultural workers to determine the problems that they themselves perceived with their work. The agricultural work was also observed and evaluated. Various ergonomic evaluation tools, such as the Ovaka Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS), the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), and the Rapid Upper Limb Analysis (RULA),were used to find the levels of potential for certain musculoskeletal disorders. In the second step, the results of the evaluation were discussed with the farmers and based upon this discussion, the appropriate equipment was selected. In the third step, the ergonomic improvement equipment was provided to farmers. In the fourth step, the effects of the assistive equipment in reducing the farmers' activity burdens were evaluated.

 

2.4 Musculoskeletal disease prevention program:

Most of the farmers in the villages assigned for the farm work safety project experienced the symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases related to farming, and thus were in need of improving them. An exercise program was conducted on 21 farmers who wanted to participate in the program to improve their musculoskeletal symptoms and prevent future exacerbation of the symptoms. The program comprised of16 sessions was run over an eight-week period. The program was designed to strengthen muscles around the stomach, waist, shoulder, and knee, and to restore flexibility using Thera-Bands and gym balls. The effects of the program were evaluated by measuring the changes in physical competence before and after participation in the program. The 30-second chair stand (CS) test and the functional reach (FR) test were used for lower-extremity muscular endurance and balance ability, respectively. In addition, the trunk flexion forward (TFF) test was used for flexibility.

 

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

3.1 Examination of harmful factors and the development of assistive equipment:

Harmful factors in the workplace were examined and based on them, assistive equipment was developed. As shown in the left side (before) of Figure 2, targeted harmful factors in the workplace were: 1) squatting for long hours, 2) bending over for long hours, and 3) repeatedly using specific parts of the body. The assistive equipment shown in the right side (after) of Figure 2 was developed over a five-month period and applied to resolve these problems. This equipment operated with batteries and control levers were designed to improve the working posture of squatting for long hours and moderately improve the working posture of bending over for long hours.

 

Before

 

after

Figure 2. Assistive equipment for planting operations

 

3.2 Evaluation of workers' fatigue levels:

The degree of fatigue perceived by the farmers was measured and the results were outlined in Figure 3. The Perceived Fatigue Questionnaire developed by the Korean Agricultural Development Administration was used for the evaluation. The farmers’ degrees of fatigue before and after using the assistive equipment were surveyed around three months after the use. Group 1 consisted of 10 categories to measure the level of physical fatigue. Group 2 and Group 3 consisted of 10 categories to measure the level of mental fatigue and 10 categories to measure the level of neurosensory fatigue, respectively. The levels of physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and neurosensory fatigue were improved by 91.5%, 97.9%, and 97.6%, respectively after the use of the assistive equipment.

 

Figure 3. Changes in the perceived fatigue levels

 

3.3 Effects of improvements using ergonomic evaluation tools:

An analysis using the Ovako Working-postures Analysis System (OWAS) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) methods showed that after the application of the assistive equipment, the risk of work declined from Level 4 to Level 2, indicating the effects of a 50% decline. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) analysis showed the effect of a 60% decline in the risk of work from Level 5 to Level 2 (Table 1).

 

Table 1. Hazard level evaluation before and after the improvement

	Before improvement	After improvement
OWAS	level: 4 immediate intervention required	level: 2 required continuous observation
REBA	points: 14 level: 5 immediate intervention required	points: 2 level: 2 required continuous observation
RULA	points: 8 level: 4 immediate intervention required	points: 3 level: 2 required continuous observation

 

3.4 Effects of the musculoskeletal disease prevention exercise program:

The participants in the musculoskeletal disease prevention exercise program (N=21) showed statistically significant improvements in the CS, FR-right (FRR) & FR-left (FRL), and trunk forward flexion (TFF) tests as shown in Table 2 (p<0.05). Therefore, the eight-week prevention exercise program conducted in this study was confirmed to be effective in improving muscular endurance, balance ability, and flexibility. Therefore, this prevention exercise program may have contributed to improving the physical functions of patients with musculoskeletal diseases, which is in line with the results of previous studies conducted in South Korea’s rural areas.

This study has significance in term of aiming for comprehensive improvements in the safety and health of farmers by conducting an assistive equipment project for agricultural work and a musculoskeletal disease prevention exercise program in a single village, which are run as separate projects.

 

Table 2. Changes in physical functions (N = 21)

Items	Pre-test	Post-test	t	p
	M ± SD
CS	18.3±5.5	22.9±6.3	-7.37	0.000*
FRR	34.3±8.9	42.9±8.7	-8.19	0.000*
FRL	34.7±8.8	41.4±8.4	-6.14	0.000*
TFF	7.0±8.7	12.8±7.6	-7.97	0.000*

*p<0.001, Subscales: CS = 30-second chair stand test, FRR = functional reaching test (R), FRL = functional reaching test (L), TFF = trunk flexion forward test

 

4. CONCLUSION:

The objective of this study was to provide consultancy for the improvement of agricultural work activities and to evaluate assistive equipment to reduce the potential development of musculoskeletal disorders in agricultural workers, as well as to ergonomically improve the selected equipment. A prevention exercise program was also implemented to improve the physical functioning of agricultural workers in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. It was found that this total package was extremely effective in reducing the potential for musculoskeletal disorders.

 

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

This Research was supported by Korea Nazarene University and Han Seo University.

 

6. REFERENCES:

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Accepted on 26.07.2017          © RJPT All right reserved