Abstract:

Despite significant technological developments, the agricultural sector is seen as one of the most challenging and dangerous sectors in terms of occupational accidents and diseases. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are frequently seen in employees due to excessive handiwork and very different body postures of employees. Accordingly, determining which body posture is riskier in terms of employee health is also an important field of work in ergonomics. Hazelnut harvest is one of the important and labor-intensive work groups that need human labor in agricultural activities. Hazelnut, which has an important place in our country's agriculture, is harvested by hand, but it is also done mechanically with the spread of hazelnut harvesting machines developed by local manufacturers in recent years. In this study, risk scores were determined by examining the postures of the employees during the picking of hazelnuts from the ground with a pneumatically effective hazelnut harvester, separately using REBA and OWAS methods. Working with a pneumatic hazelnut harvester, there are four workstations: the movement of the machine in the garden, the circling of the transmission hose on the garden floor, the replacement of the full sacks, and the transport of the sacks to the storage area. During the harvest, the movements of the workers at all workstations were observed and recorded with a camera. Images were analyzed using the ErgoFellow 2.0 package program. Accordingly, the movement of the pneumatic hazelnut harvesting machine in the garden, moving the transmission hose on the garden floor, and changing the sack were found to be high risk in terms of ergonomics in both methods, and transporting the full sack to the storage area was found to be risky in both methods.