Assessment of occupational safety, health, and ergonomics issues in agriculture in some cities of Iran

Behavioral decision-making of the government, farmer-specialized cooperatives, and farmers regarding the quality and safety of agricultural products

The quality and safety of agricultural products is very important for farmers' professional cooperatives. This study incorporates the government, farmers' professional cooperatives and farmers into the evolutionary game model to explore the game relationship and evolutionary path of decision-making among the three parties related to the quality and safety of agricultural products. Through the dynamic analysis of decision-making replication, the analysis of strategy evolution stability and the verification of numerical simulation experiments, it is shown that the decision-making behavior of the government, farmers' professional cooperatives and farmers under the conditions of agricultural product quality and safety is the result of the game between three stakeholders; the government, farmers' professional cooperatives and farmers The evolution process of the decision-making behavior to the ideal state is affected by many factors, and the value ranges of different factors have different effects on the convergence speed of the three stakeholders to the ideal state; when certain conditions are met, the government, farmers' professional cooperatives and farmers' three The decision-making behavior of each stakeholder can evolve into an ideal state, and effective government supervision can promote the cooperatives to manage the green production of farmers, and then effectively encourage farmers to take the initiative in green production. In order to provide useful suggestions for the government to make safety supervision decisions, to effectively manage cooperatives, and to stimulate active green production behaviors by farmers.

Driving mechanism of farmers' green production behavior under normalization of COVID-19 prevention and control: A case study in China

China's public health emergency COVID-19 has brought great challenges to food safety. Among them, the quality and safety of agricultural products under the normalization of the COVID-19 prevention and control has become a hot issue of general concern. This study attempts to reveal the driving factors and mechanisms of farmers' green production behavior. The empirical research by collecting 673 sample data shows that: individual characteristics of farmers, government guiding factors, an industrial organization promoting factors, and market adjustment factors have a positive driving effect on farmers' green production behavior. And farmers' green production behavior has a positive influence on the quality and safety of agricultural products. Farmers' green production behavior plays an intermediary role between the quality and safety of agricultural products and individual characteristics of farmers, government guidance factors, industrial organization promotion factors, and market regulation factors. The results of the study have guiding significance for ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products, promoting ecological environmental protection, and sustainable agricultural development under the normalization of COVID-19 prevention and control.

Older Female Farmers and Modeling of Occupational Hazards, Wellbeing, and Sleep-Related Problems on Musculoskeletal Pains

Musculoskeletal pains seem to be the most prevalent among occupational diseases in older female farmers. This study analyzes the relationships between exposure to ergonomic or environmental hazards, sleep-related problems, wellbeing, and musculoskeletal pains in older female farmers. In this study, older farmer means a farmer aged ≥60, and 2005 older female farmers were selected. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to investigate the relationships. In the results of SEM, musculoskeletal pains were more affected by the level of wellbeing (standardized path coefficient = −0.149) than the level of sleep-related problems (standardized path coefficient = 0.131) or the exposure level of ergonomic hazards (standardized path coefficient = 0.086). Among the ergonomic risk factors felt by elderly female farmers, the influence level of “awkward posture” (0.735), “repetitive motion” (0.718), or “standing posture” (0.693) was greater than that of “manual material handling” (0.661). “Vibration” (0.786) and “noise” (0.683) were influential variables of environmental hazards. In addition, “upper limb pain” (0.796) and “lower limb pain” (0.751) variables were more influential variables of musculoskeletal pains than the “backache” (0.472) variable. This study shows that strategies to improve wellbeing or sleep problems are important to alleviate or prevent musculoskeletal pains among older female farmers.

Comparisons of working conditions and health-related problems between older male and female crop farmers

BACKGROUND

Although the number of farmers in Korea is declining, the proportion of older farmers aged ≥60 increases.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to analyze gender differences in working conditions, exposure to risk factors, and health problems of older crop farmers aged ≥60.

METHODS

This study used data from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) data of 818 male and 985 female crop farmers aged ≥60 years.

RESULTS

This study showed that older female farmers had higher ratios of living alone (45.0% vs. 13.4%, p <  0.001), lower education levels (80.7% vs. 53.4%, p <  0.001), and lower average incomes (1.565 vs. 2.036 million KRW, p <  0.001) than that of males. Among subjective scores on the exposure of risk factors, only females' repetitive motion (4.923) and awkward posture (4.415) scores were higher than that of males' repetitive motion (4.601) (p <  0.001) and awkward posture (4.159) scores (p = 0.001). However, female's health problem rates on upper limb pain (68.3%), lower extremity pain (67.6%), backache (48.4%), overall fatigue (44.8%), and headache and eyestrain (25.0%) were higher than that of male's complaint rates on upper limb pain (48.5%) (p <  0.001), lower extremity pain (53.3%) (p <  0.001), backache (35.0%) (p <  0.001), overall fatigue (39.5%) (p = 0.024), and headache and eyestrain (19.4%) (p = 0.005). The rate of depression symptoms in females (54.6%), with a high proportion of single-person households, was higher than that of males (46.9%) (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The musculoskeletal pains and depression symptoms of older female farmers are prevalent, and efforts and support are required to improve working conditions.

Development and validation of assessment tool of knowledge, attitude, and practice of outdoor workers regarding heat stress

BACKGROUND: Improving the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of workers exposed to heat stress using a suitable tool can be a cheap and effective method. This requires the consideration of personal, environmental and social factors, which, the PRECEDE model is highly applicable for. Thus, the aim of the present study is the development of a tool assessment for measuring the knowledge, attitude and practices of workers in outdoor occupations regarding heat stress exposure using the PRECEDE model. METHODS: In the present study, a tool was designed and constructed using the PRECEDE model by analyzing the relevant literature and expert opinion. The face validity of the tool was determined based on the opinion of ten experts with experience in the field of occupational weather conditions. The content validity of the tool was determined using the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and the Content Validity Index (CVI). Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the tool’s internal consistency. SPSS version 23 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A PRECEDE based questionnaire was designed with a total of 55 questions consisting of predisposing factors (28 questions for knowledge and 14 questions for attitude), enabling factors (5 questions), reinforcing factors (3 questions) and preventive behaviors (5 questions). The Content Validity Index (CVI) of all questions was above 0.79. The Content Validity Ratio (CVR) of all questions was above 0.62 (Lawshe method). The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of all PRECEDE domains were above the 0.7 acceptable value. Based on the results obtained, all 55 questions were approved and thus the content validity and reliability of this tool was deemed acceptable. CONCLUSION: Considering the reliability and validity of this tool, its application is recommended in all health and safety inspections within various industries for measuring the heat stress knowledge, attitude and practices of workers engaged in outdoor occupations and also for presenting suitable solutions or preventive measures.

Ergonomic problems in agricultural farms: Explainable relationship between awkward postures and body discomforts in Iranian leafy vegetable cultivation

BACKGROUND: Many agricultural activities excessively need human power and are associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Leafy vegetable cultivation (LVC) is one of these. OBJECTIVE: The postural workload, body discomfort, and explainable linkage between these among Iranian wintry LVC workers were investigated. METHODS: Postures and body discomfort were evaluated using Ovako working posture analyzing system (OWAS) and a body map, respectively. The explainable body discomforts by working postures for each body region were descriptively discussed using some of the literature. RESULTS: Considering the maximum MSD risk value of 400%, irrigation and manual harvesting had the highest MSD risks with index risks of 313% and 305% respectively. Low back discomfort was the most common body discomfort in LVC which was reported for the operations of moldboard plowing, disking, manure application, chemical broadcasting, spraying, and manual harvesting. LVC operations seemed to rely heavily on the use of low back and shoulders. Bent and/or twist postures were the most common postures for the back. CONCLUSIONS: Almost all the body discomforts were explained by awkward postures shown by postural workload analysis. Therefore, the working posture analysis results may be reliable and utilized in future decisions around ergonomic interventions. Future studies may be conducted to investigate the simple and inexpensive ergonomic interventions to mitigate MSD risks.