Identification of effective factors in musculoskeletal disorders of tea harvesting workers: a qualitative study

Work-related musculoskeletal disorder is a multifactorial complication that leads to a loss of work time, inability, and increased economic cost. The aim of this study was to identify the factors affecting the musculoskeletal disorders of tea harvesting workers.

The current descriptive-qualitative research was conducted with directed content analysis where in 14 participating tea pluckers were selected through purposive and snowball sampling methods. Data were collected by semi-structured interview method and were then analyzed in MAXQDA12 software. In this study, Carayon’s SEIPS model was used as a predetermined framework for the macroergonomics approach.

The numbers of 214 primary codes, 56 important codes, 17 subcategories, and 5 main categories (i.e., individual, task-related, tools and technologies, environment-related factors and organizational) were obtained as the effective factors in musculoskeletal disorders among tea harvesting workers in the results of continuous analysis. Important codes extracted from the interview in the individual category including (age, gender, previous work experience in tea plucking, feeling very tired, etc.), task-related category (improper posture, exerting force on trunk and hand, etc.), the category of tools and equipment (the long length of the bag attached to the hand tool for picking tea, etc.), the category related to environmental factors (surfaces uphill and downhill), the height of the tea plant (short and tall), the type of tea harvesting area (plains and mountains, etc.) and organizational category (lack of sufficient training on the correct way of doing work, lack of support and support from the employer and threat of dismissal (lack of job security) and...).

Considering that agricultural jobs (especially tea harvesting) have diversity in the nature of tasks compared to industrial tasks, among the different factors on musculoskeletal disorders in this job, it can be attributed to the greater activity of women in this job due to the need for High physical activity, manual handling of tea bags (60 to 80 kg), using traditional hand tools, humidity and temperature of the working environment (working outdoors in the summer season and under rain), working environment (height of the tea plant, limited access to all tea plant space), the uneven surface of the ground during activity, applying force on the hand (crossing movements of hand tools while working), not establishing a shift work system and working hours over 12 hours. In order to prevent these disorders, a multi-faceted approach of actions from these factors is needed, which can be ergonomic redesign of tea growers' work tools, improvement of tea plants and work space, training of ergonomic principles of body posture and load handling, creating insurance coverage and Other related cases were mentioned in this study.