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Greener Journal of Environment Management and Public Safety
ISSN: 2354-2276
Vol. 13(1), pp. 40-51, 2025
Copyright ©2025, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
https://gjournals.org/GJEMPS
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15580/gjemps.2025.1.032725048
1,2,3 Department of Industrial Engineering, Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia, Jl. Sisingamangaraja No.2, RT.2/RW.1, Selong, Kecamatan Kebayoran Baru, Kota Jakarta Selatan, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta, 12110.
The agricultural sector is a type of work that has a high risk for workers. Activities carried out by farmers include hoeing, planting rice, drying rice, lifting and storing crops that have different levels of risk. The work posture of farmers who always bend over and work for long periods of time raises its own problems. Worker profile which includes age, gender, type of work, years of service, smoking habits, and psychosocial can be a risk factor for the occurrence of MSDS in farmers. Not only that, environmental factors such as working temperature can also be a factor that causes MSDS. MSDS complaints can be identified using the Nordic Body Map (NBM) method. Therefore, the aim of the research is to identify the influence of individual and environmental factors on MSDS complaints. This research was conducted on 20 farmers in Harapan Jaya Village. Statistical tests using the Chi-Square method were carried out to analyze the relationship between individual and environmental factors on the risk of MSDs complaints. The results obtained were from the bivariate Chi-Square test that there was a significant relationship between the independent variables and the risk factors for MSDs because they had a P-value of less than 0,05. These variables can be continued with a multivariate test provided that the P-value less than 0.25. The dominantly significant relationship between individual factors and risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders is the variable that has a P-value of less than 0.05 including gender and type of work with a P-value of 0.000. The right handler is to divide the work according to ability based on gender. If female workers are given work that is heavier than their capacity, the risk of MSDs will increase and have long-term effects.
Type: Research
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DOI: 10.15580/gjemps.2025.1.032725048
Accepted: 02/04/2025
Published: 30/07/2025
*Corresponding Author
Ajeng Anindya Maheswari
E-mail: ajenganindya0@gmail.com
In 2013, the International Labor Organization (ILO) stated that every 15 seconds, 1 worker in the world dies as a result of a work accident and 160 workers experience work-related illness. In the previous year (2012), the number of deaths due to accidents and work-related diseases was recorded at 2 million cases every year. In this case, it indicates that occupational diseases need to be looked at further to find out the factors that cause these diseases to arise. One of the occupational diseases in general is complaints of pain in the body, namely Musculosceletal Disorders. This complaint arises due to an incorrect working position, which causes several complaints of pain in certain areas of the body. The agricultural sector is a type of work that has a high risk for workers. This type of work can cause complaints of pain in parts of the body due to several factors.
Jobs such as farming have a high level of risk when viewed from the work activities carried out and the work environment. Activities carried out by farmers include hoeing, planting rice, drying rice, lifting and storing harvests which have different levels of risk. One type of farmer activity that poses a high risk to health is when planting rice. Farmers’ working posture, which is always bent and working for long periods of time, creates its own problems. Environmental conditions that often change and land management methods that are still manual are one of the factors. In general, farmers carry out their work activities all day in the fields and do this repeatedly as a routine for farmers. The environment in low-lying areas tends to have a higher temperature or air temperature (hot). This means that workers will feel more tired if they work for a long time under the hot sun. However, if you work when it is windy and tends to cause rain, workers will also have difficulty carrying out their activities. Apart from that, workers in the lowland agricultural sector generally work on other people’s land, but there are some workers who also have their own land and work on that land. Workers who work on land owned by other people should continue to improve their work performance and have many other demands from land owners so that land productivity can increase. It cannot be denied that workers will feel pressured, causing psychological work stress.
Therefore, based on the background above regarding cases of pain complaints, namely musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in lowland agricultural sector workers, it is necessary to know the relationship between individual and environmental factors and risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. This involves direct observation in Harapan Jaya Village to find out the factors that influence the risk of MSDs complaints among workers, especially rice farmers. Each factor needs to be divided into several categories to make it easier to determine the relationship between individual and environmental factors and risk factors. The goal is to find out the most dominant factors that cause pain in the body so that the treatment can be adjusted accordingly.
BASIC THEORY
Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)
Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) or generally known as injuries and disorders that affect the musculoskeletal system or body movement. MSDs that are felt usually start from mild disturbances or complaints to severe pain in the joints, nerves, muscles or spine due to unnatural work. If muscle contractions are used around 15% to 20% of the entire muscle capacity then there will be no muscle complaints. However, blood circulation to the muscles can decrease if the muscles contract by more than 20%. MSDs are a major concern for workers in the agricultural sector because they have a negative impact on worker health and productivity. This impact can be measured in terms of Health and safety costs, injury and illness rates, lost work time, duration of treatment, and worker welfare costs (Umima & Utami, 2022).
In general, the risk of MSDs includes several factors including incorrect work posture, doing the same activity repeatedly, handling materials, vibrations in machines or other things, extreme temperature changes, inadequate lighting, and duration of exposure. The individual factors that influence the risk of MSDs include age, gender, physical activity and smoking habits (Maulana et al., 2021).
Individual Factors
There are many types of occupational factors related to musculoskeletal disorders recorded in the agricultural sector.
Age
In general, complaints of musculosceletal disorders begin to be felt when you enter the working age of 25 to 26 years. The first complaint of MSDs usually appears at the age of 35 years. Complaints will continue to increase as workers age. Usually the most painful complaints are due to doing activities that are too heavy at a young age so that the consequences are long term. This is because in middle age, muscle strength and endurance begin to decline so that the risk of muscle complaints increases (Maulana et al., 2021).
Gender
Women’s muscle endurance is much lower than men’s because women’s muscle strength is only approximately two-thirds of men’s muscle strength. Physiologically, women’s muscle capacity is lower than men’s. Many agricultural equipment is aimed at male workers with the assumption that they will automatically benefit women even though the ergonomic characteristics of women are different from those of male workers. Women have anatomical and physiological differences that may place them at risk for agricultural injuries. Women are, on average, shorter than men and have more adipose tissue. Women also have narrower shoulders, wider hips, and have proportionally shorter legs and arms than their male counterparts (Singh & Arora, 2010).
Work Period
Pain complaints decrease in workers after working for 1-5 years. However, the workforce will increase after working for more than 5 years. The longer a person’s working period, the longer they are exposed to work at work, so the higher the risk of occupational diseases (Maulana et al., 2021).
Smoking Habit
MSDs complaints can also be caused by workers’ smoking habits. This is because the presence of nicotine in cigarettes prevents blood flow throughout the body from functioning properly. Apart from that, smoking also reduces the mineral content in the bones, resulting in pain due to cracks or damage to the bone area (Maulana et al., 2021).
Psychosocial Factors
Psychosocial is part of the individual factors that can influence MSDs complaints. This psychosocial is related to interactions that occur in the work environment, organizational or company conditions, excessive individual consideration of their work, which has an impact on health, performance and job satisfaction. Psychosocial factors in this are seen from the characteristics of working hours, rules and regulations in the workplace, injustice related to severance pay, the number of concurrent work activities, work stress, the consequences of work errors, short rest periods and other disturbances while working (Mayasari & Saftarina, 2016).
Environmental Factors
One of the environmental factors that influence workers’ activities in rice fields is air temperature. Temperature or air temperature can influence farmers in carrying out their work. Farmers will feel dehydrated if they work in hot weather. Temperature is a quantity that shows the high and low temperature of a tool and object used to measure temperature, namely a thermometer. The temperature in the work space is a factor that needs to be considered by the management of a company where they work so that employees can use all their abilities to achieve maximum results (Putra & Zetli, 2022).
Nordic Body Map
Nordic Body Map is a measurement and assessment technique for identifying and recognizing complaints of pain and skeletal muscle injuries due to disorders of the musculoskeletal system. The assessment uses a worksheet in the form of questions with a map of body parts which are categorized into nine main parts, namely shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists, upper and lower back, waist or buttocks, knees, and heels or feet (Kusmindari, 2014). Through this worksheet, risk levels will be identified and classified from the level of complaints of not being sick, slightly sick, sick, and very sick. From the NBM results, it can be identified which parts of the muscles are experiencing complaints or pain felt by workers by filling in the NBM questionnaire, ranging from discomfort to very painful. Based on the results of the NBM questionnaire information, individual values or scores are then calculated using a predetermined Likert scale (Rahdiana, 2018). The following is a Likert scale to show the risk level classification based on the individual’s total NBM score which is shown in Table 1 and Table 2 (Rahmawati et al., 2023).
Chi-square Test
The Chi-square test is a type of non-parametric comparative test carried out on two variables, where the data scale for both variables is nominal. This test was carried out to test the descriptive hypothesis of one sample and also test the comparative hypothesis of two independent samples (Nursalam, 2015). In the Chi-Square test, a hypothesis needs to be made, namely for H0 indicating that there is no significant influence between two variables, while H1 indicates that there is a significant influence between two variables. The testing criteria for the Chi-Square method are if Sig. more than equal to 0.05 then H0 can be accepted, but if Sig. less than 0.05 then H0 can be rejected (Negara & Prabowo, 2018).
A flowchart is a diagram that describes the stages of a research such as the process and work flow carried out. In general, flowcharts are composed of graphic symbols such as work processes, input and output obtained, and decisions taken. The flow between processes that occur is connected using arrow symbols as a link.
Data Collection
The working position of workers in Harapan Jaya Village agriculture is the main problem in this research. There are errors in work position in several activities such as planting, hoeing, and so on
Figure 3. Farmer work position
Figure 3 shows one of the work activities carried out by farmers, namely barrowing. The picture clearly shows that a bent position like this will cause pain in the back and lower back. Apart from that, farmers have been doing this for quite a long time.
Table 1 is a data table resulting from a questionnaire filled in by 20 respondents who work in the highland agricultural sector in Harapan Jaya Village. For psychosocial factors, a psychological risk measurement questionnaire based on Permenaker 05 of 2018 in the form of an excel file was used. The questionnaire consists of 30 questions with answers on a scale of 1 (never), 2 (rarely), 3 (rarely), 4 (sometimes), 5 (often), 6 (very often), 7 (always causes stress ). If you enter the scale number in Excel, the stress level results will be automatically displayed.
Nordic Body Map Data Processing
From the results of the Nordic Body Map calculations for each category, the risk level of the 20 respondents was obtained which was divided into several factors. The following is a table of risk level results based on the Nordic Body Map.
62
67
low
10
Table 3 is the result of the risk level obtained based on the Nordic Body Map calculation for each individual. Each individual is then categorized based on individual factors and environmental factors. This is to find out the factors that significantly influence the risk level.
Testing individual and environmental factors on the risk of MSDs can be carried out using the Chi-Square method using tools in the form of SPSS software. This method consists of 3 stages, namely univariate tests, bivariate tests and multivariate tests. The aim is to determine the most significant factors influencing the risk of MSDs. The data tested is data on risk levels for each factor and category based on the Nordic Body Map.
Univariate Test
In the univariate test, it was possible to determine the frequency distribution of the risk of MSDs from 20 respondents based on predetermined factors and categories.
Table 4 above shows the frequency distribution results regarding factors related to MSDs complaints from 20 respondents who work in the lowland agricultural sector, especially rice farming. After knowing the frequency distribution results, a bivariate test was then carried out to determine the factors that influence the risk of MSDs complaints.
Bivariate Test
Bivariate tests were carried out to determine which independent variables were significant in the risk factors for MSDs complaints (dependent variable). An independent variable can be said to be significant provided that the P-value does not exceed 0.05 (<0.05). The results of the bivariate test for MSDs risk factors are presented in the following table.
Table 5 shows that there is a significant relationship between independent variables and MSDs risk factors because they have a P-value <0.05. These variables can be continued with a multivariate test provided that the P-value does not exceed 0.25 (<0.25) to determine the variable that has the most dominant relationship to MSDs risk factors.
Multivariate Test
Multivariate tests can be carried out if the bivariate test results have a P-value <0.25. Based on the results of bivariate tests, all independent variables were indicated to have a relationship with risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). To find out the most dominant factor, a multivariate test is carried out with the condition that the P-value does not exceed 0.05 (<0.05). The results of the multivariate test for MSDs risk factors are presented in the following table.
Table 6 is the result of a multivariate test of independent variables that have a relationship with risk factors for MSDs complaints but are not dominant because all P-value results for the variables age, length of service, psychosocial, smoking habits and temperature produce a P-value of more than 0.05 (>0.05).
Table 7 is the result of a multivariate test of independent variables that have a dominant relationship with risk factors for MSDs complaints. The variables gender and type of work have a P-value of 0.000. These results indicate that the variables gender and type of work have a more dominant relationship compared to the variables in Table 27, producing a P-value of less than 0.05 (<0.05).
From the SPSS data processing results of the Multivariate Chi-Square test in Table 8, it is known that all respondents had complaints regarding the risk of MSDs. Judging from individual and environmental factors, the variables gender and type of work have the most significant dominant influence/relationship on the emergence of the risk of MSDs. The right treatment is to divide work according to ability based on gender. This is because the physique of women and men is very different. If female workers are given work that is heavier than their capacity, the risk of MSDs will increase and have long-term effects.
Conclusions
Based on the results of the analysis of data collection and processing from 20 worker respondents in the lowland agricultural sector, several conclusions were obtained, including:
Recommendations
Based on the results of the conclusions above, several suggestions that can be given include:
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Maheswari, AA, Purwandari, AT; Niken Parwati, N (2025). Individual and environmental factor analysis of musculosceletal disorders risk on lowland agricultural worker. Greener Journal of Environmental Management and Public Safety, 13(1): 40-51, https://doi.org/10.15580/gjemps.2025.1.032725048.
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