Valoración ergonómica de manipulación manual de cargas en la hacienda Luz Belén a los trabajadores de la empacadora en la cosecha de banano

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders, mainly in lumbar area, are frequent among banana workers, due to the manual handling of loads involved in their work. The purpose of this study was to perform ergonomic evaluation of manual handling of loads to the workers of banana packing section in Hacienda Luz Belén, aimed to know the workstations of greater risk, in order to taking preventive and corrective control actions. For this, an observational-descriptive study was carried out in the 48 workers who labor in the 20 workstations of packing section. Risk identification and estimation, was carried out by the qualitative INSHT method of 3x3. The method of revised NIOSH lifting equation was used to assess the specific ergonomic risk. In 7 (35%) workstation, the hazard of manual handling of loads was identified; of which, in 6 workstations, loads handled were greater than 3 kg and, in 4 workstations, the level of risk was unacceptable, after the specific ergonomic assessment. Based on these results, control measures were designed that included improvements in automation and mechanization of workstations, organizational changes (staff rotation, active breaks, health surveillance and policies for safe work procedures) and training programs. Also, an estimate of costs was developed for the implementation of the project, so that its feasibility is analyzed.