The Effect of Hand Arm Vibration Symptoms among Palm Oil Harvester with the Usage of Cantas Machine in Selangor

Mohd Noraiman MOHD FADZIL1, Shamsul Bahri MD TAMRIN1

1Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
43400, UPM Serdang, Malaysia

Page 13 – 24   |   Vol. 4, No. 1 (2019)   |    Available online on 1 June 2019

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the effect of hand arm vibration symptoms on ‘Cantas’ machine among palm oil harvester in Selangor. Questionnaire survey is use as strategy of enquiry for achieving the objectives. A vibration analyser HVM 100 attached to a tri-accelerometer was used. The vibration level for working hours is 2.30 m/s2 and is deemed safe as specified in ISO 5349-1. The prevalence of hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) based on reported symptoms through questionnaires was 39.4%. None of them reported persistence in the symptoms. The ergonomics risk factor mean score was 2.93 out of 4. The issues on ergonomic design was weight, maintenance, portability, ease of usage and efficiency. In conclusion, regular screening for early signs of vibration-related damage is needed as an important part of preventing the aggravation of health problems. The workers also gained awareness regarding vibration exposure and safe working procedure on using Cantas machine

Keywords

Cantas machine, HAVS, vibration, palm oil industry, ergonomic issue

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank to Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and also laboratory staff from Environmental and Occupational Health Lab, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences University Putra Malaysia for the support. Not to forget, our sincerest gratitude to all the respondent in giving full commitment in this study.

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Human Factors & Ergonomics Journal (HFEJ), eISSN: 2590-3705  is the official Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Malaysia.  The journal is published on a biannual basis. HFEJ aims to address current research in the field of Ergonomics in addition to the broad coverage of cognitive ergonomics, user experience, physical ergonomics and others such as transportation, industrial design and industrial engineering. HFEJ is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), as such we only accept original work.