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Subject: Family Resource Management × End date: 2016 × Type: Thesis ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Physiological Cost of Storage of Paddy and Ergonomic Intervention for Drudgery Reduction
    (AAU, 2015) Kalita, Mira; Borah, Ruplekha
    Storage of paddy grains is one of the most drudgery prone post harvest activity of Assam, which is predominantly performed by rural women. The present study entitled ‘Physiological Cost of Storage of Paddy and Ergonomic Intervention for Drudgery Reduction’ was proposed with the following objectives – (1) Development of scale for assessing occupational health hazards of farm women in post harvest activities (OHHPA scale). (2) Assessment of physical fitness of the farm women involved in paddy storage activity. (3) Assessment of physiological workload of farm women in storage of paddy. (4) Design modification of conventional bamboo basket for enhancing comfort and efficiency. Both survey and experimental method were used for the study. Survey method was conducted on three hundred farm women of six different villages of Jorhat district. Women samples were selected at three stages viz – 60 for item analysis, 60 for testing reliability and 300 samples for administering the developed scale. After establishing validity and reliability of the scale, the scale was administered on 300 farm women for assessing health hazards in post harvest activities. Experimental method was conducted on thirty subjects in the age group of 25-35 years who were with normal health, non-pregnant and non-lactating having normal blood pressure and without any major illness were selected for the purpose of assessing physical fitness, physiological workload and postural stress of farm women. Electronic tread mill was used for assessing physical fitness of the farm women. Heart rate was recorded with heart rate monitor and postural stress in different regions was measured with inclinometer. For postural analysis ovaku work posture analysis system (OWAS) method was used. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was calculated by using 5 point rating scale developed by Varghese et al. Body map was used to identify the body part discomfort (BPD) in different parts of the body. Engineering control was applied for design modification of conventional bamboo basket for storing paddy grains. Personal and demographic characteristics of farm women revealed that cent per cent respondents were literate and sixty six per cent respondents belonged to nuclear families. Majority of the respondents (82%) belonged to marginal farmers having 1 acre of land for paddy cultivation. As regards to age of the respondents, 88 per cent falls in the age group of 30-40 years. Occurrences of biological, physical, accidental and environmental hazards were common among Assamese farm women. More than 47 per cent of the respondents were in the category of ‘high’ incidences of different types of hazards and respondents’ belonging to ‘severe’ incidences of hazards were nil. The findings also showed that 58 per cent of the farm women were in the category of 'high’ incidence of hazards in post harvest activities. The findings on physical characteristics of the respondents revealed that mean age of the respondent farm women were 32 years of age. Average height of the respondent farm women was 151.42 cm, average weight was 45 kg. Lean body mass (LBM) of the respondents was 32.35 kg. Body mass index (BMI) of the selected respondents was 20.87 and VO2 max (ml. kg-1.min-1) was found to be 26.73. Fat percentage of the respondents was 28. Most of the respondents (47 per cent) belonged to ‘ectomorphic’ group. Thirty three per cent of farm women had ‘very good’ level of physical fitness. The physiological workload of farm women in storing paddy grains by using conventional basket was categorized as ‘heavy’ activity indicating that design modification is necessary for storing paddy grain. It was found that work postures had a distinctly harmful effect on musculoskeletal system of the farm women. The angles of average flexion was highest in upper arm (90.620) and extension was in thoracic was observed to be 115.300 indicating deviation of body parts. The farm women performed the storage activity under acceptable level of temperature and humidity except illumination. The average weight of the load was found to be 14.03 kg. The recommended weight limit (RWL) for storage activity by the use of conventional basket was found to be 6.54 kg. The lifting index of storage of paddy grains by farm women was found to be 2.14 which indicates that farm women suffers from lot of work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) or injury and design modification is necessary for reducing health hazards and work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of farm women in storage of paddy grains. Engineering control was applied for preventing and controlling occupational health hazards and work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of farm women in paddy storage activity. The design criteria selected for modifying conventional basket were load capacity, frontal length, depth, weight, base and grip of the basket. Physiological workload of storage of paddy grains in the use of modified baskets was found to be ‘moderately heavy’ activity. The use of modified basket-3 for paddy storage activity minimized postural stress, musculo-skeletal disorder, body part discomfort of farm women to a considerable extent. The recommended weight limit (RWL) for storage activity by the use of modified basket-3 was found to be 10 kgs. The lifting index of storage of paddy grains by the use of modified basket-3 was found to be 0.97, which indicates that all the healthy farm women could carry 10 kgs of loads without any risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Use of modified basket for paddy storage activity increase output, enhance efficiency, comfort, workable life and reduce ergonomic cost, drudgery and health hazards of farm women.