Track: Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

Farmers have a huge role in providing food security for any country. However, in some regions in the Philippines where farming activities are still done manually, farmers experience muscle and bone stress and strain, leading to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The initial ergonomic assessment for farmers that do manual farming indicated that the farmers have a “high” risk of injury due to long hours of squatting and sitting with a twisted upper body and neck. Hence, this study involved designing and developing an ergonomic chair that would help farmers do their work more efficiently while reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. A prototype of the ergonomic chair was constructed and pilot-tested with some farmers. REBA was used to assess the risk level of farmers before and after using the prototype. Paired t-test was used to determine significant changes in REBA score before and after intervention. Using the prototyped ergonomic farmer’s chair, the risk level for musculoskeletal disorders was significantly reduced from “high” to “medium.” Aside from this, the farmers observed an improvement in the overall well-being of their bodies.