Investigation of Oil Palm Harvesting Tools Design and Technique on Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorder
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
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Oil palm industry is one of the important sectors in Malaysia. The growth and development in this industry shows that Malaysia is one of the largest manufacturers of palm oil in the world. However this industry does face a lot of issues in work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) especially in harvesting process. The harvesters tend to undergo WMSDs especially on shoulder, trunk and legs. Upon that situation, these studies are focusing to identify the exposure level, awkward posture and the reaction force of muscle activity throughout the movement of the harvesters using pole, chisel and loading spike in oil palm harvesting process. Quick Exposure Check Analysis (QEC), Rapid Upper Limb Analysis (RULA), and Human Musculoskeletal Model Analysis (HMMA) are used to investigate the harvester body during oil palm harvesting process. The result shows that, harvester shoulder, trunk and leg were experiencing awkward posture that leads to WMSDs when using harvesting. The repetition of work and prolong standing does contribute to WMSDs on harvester body.