P-250 Occupational risks assessment among workers involved in loading fish crates in trucks, post fish harvesting at the Dockyards. (14th March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kamble, Rajat; Pandit, Sangeeta; Sahu, Avinash; Prakash, Bangaru Sai
• Is Part Of: Occupational and environmental medicine. Volume 80(2023)Supplement 1
• Page Start: A49
• Page End: A49
• Publication Date: 2023-03-14
• Subjects: Medicine, Industrial -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; 616.980305
• DOI: 10.1136/OEM-2023-EPICOH.119
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1351-0711

Abstract

Abstract : Introduction: In many field organizations, lifting tasks have found to develop work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) among the workers. Similar occupational risks were observed at the dockyards where the workers were involved in the post fish harvesting stages. One of stages required the workers to load around 200 crates weighing around 50kgs each, into the trucks by stacking them in 4. This exploitation of the manual workforce results in health problems among the workers. This study aims to identify the WMSD risks involved and to establish the need for intervention. Methods: A total of 20 people involved in truck loading tasks at the dockyard of Karwar in Karnataka and Cutbona jetty of Goa were selected for the study. A quick exposure checklist (QEC) and a manual handling assessment chart (MAC) was performed for assessing high-risk manual handling activities and its exposure to musculoskeletal risk factors of different body parts. A Biomechanical analysis of the different tasks involved were done using DELMIA. Results: QEC reported very-high risk scores for back, shoulders and wrists and the tasks of stacking the 2st crate and the 4th crate were found to pose the highest risk through the MAC analysis, indicating immediate need for intervention. The biomechanical analysis showed that the compressive load on L5/L4 disk was highest for stacking the 4th crate followed by stacking the 2nd crate with 6729N and 6397N respectively. Both of which exceed the maximum permissible limit of 6376 N as specified by National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Conclusion: This study concludes that loading crates in trucks involve high risk of back, shoulder and wrist injury resulting in exploitation of the manual labor. An intervention assisting the workers with crates stacking can positively aid with the wellbeing of the workers.