Mitigation of musculoskeletal disorders and postural stresses among tobacco cultivation workers in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Tobacco is one of the important commercial crops in India. The operations in the cultivation of tobacco crop are different from other crops, performed in odd postures with a potential risk of musculoskeletal disorders and nicotine absorption. The present study aims to find the Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) of tobacco farmworkers by conducting a survey and postural analysis during tobacco cultivation. The prevalence of MSD was assessed by surveying 120 tobacco farm workers in southern India (Andhra Pradesh). The data was collected through personal interviews with the help of a developed survey proforma based on the Standard Nordic Questionnaire. The postural stresses were assessed by "Rapid Entire Body Assessment" (REBA), "Body part discomfort Score" (BPDS), and "Overall Discomfort Score" (ODS) techniques. MSD affecting body parts was highest in one or both knees (47%), followed by one or both ankles/feet (43%), shoulders and neck (37%), wrist/hands (27%), lower back (24%), one or both hips/thighs/buttocks (19%) and upper back (10%). REBA scores for transplanting, weeding and harvesting tobacco leaves were 8.0, 8.16, and 8.2 in the "High risk" category requiring "investigation and implement change". BPDS and ODS were highest in the harvesting of tobacco leaves (50.25 and 3.90), followed by the transplanting of seedlings (39.5 and 3.82) and weeding (40.20 and 2.87) respectively. Postural analysis inferred a higher risk in transplanting seedlings, harvesting tobacco leaves and weeding. Most of the postures adopted had high REBA, BPDS and ODS scores.