Assessment of Ergonomic Risks and Symptoms of Structural Abnormalities in the Body and Muscles of Garbage Collectors in Ban Klang Subdistrict, Mueang District, Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

This research aimed to assess the ergonomic risks of waste collectors and study the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among the samples in Ban Klang subdistrict, Mueang district, Pathum Thani province. A cross-sectional design, population used in this study was a total of 36 and was conducted using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and a questionnaire on musculoskeletal symptoms. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, the level of REBA risk, the prevalence and level of muscle pain.

Results: The workers were mostly males (57.7%), aged between 30-40 years (66.70%), with work experiences between 1 to 3 years (80.00%), and the duration for garbage collecting was fewer than 8 hours per day (100.00%). The REBA risk level showed that 50.00% of 8 persons whose works involved pulling had a high-risk level, 86.67% of 15 persons whose works involved lifting had a very high-risk level, and 57.17% of 7 persons whose works involved dragging had a high-risk level. In the past 12 months, the samples reported top three areas of pain were lower back (100.00%) followed by knee (63.30%) and shoulder (56.70%).

Conclusion: The posture during the work of the waste collectors in the Bang Klang subdistrict task had the highest risk, and the prevalence and the level of muscle pain were found at the lower back most and the knee respectively. So, it was needed to improve the work conditions for the waste collectors’ tasks.