Mental Workload, Occupational Fatigue and Musculoskeletal Disorders of Forestry Professionals

Arman, Zahra; Nikooy, Mehrdad; Tsioras, Petros A.; Heidari, Mahmood; Majnounian, Baris

doi:10.5552/crojfe.2022.1639

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…The data analysis aimed at the estimation of the relative heart rate (HRR) at work according to Equation (1) [ 37 , 38 ]:

where HR work was the average heart rate during work, HR rest was the resting heart rate, and HR max was the maximum heart rate calculated for each subject by subtracting his age from 220. The validity of 220—age has been questioned for containing a degree of error [ 33 , 39 ]; however, it has been widely used in applied situations as is [ 37 , 40 , 41 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Body Posture on Heart Rate Strain during Tree Felling

Tsioras

Khooshdohbat

Nikooy

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Tree felling is recognized as one of the most difficult and physically demanding work phases in motor–manual wood harvesting, during which maintaining good posture can avert unnecessary loadings to the spine and the consequent musculoskeletal disorders to forestry professionals. This study aimed to (a) quantify the impact of posture selection by means of heart rate measurements and (b) analyze its interactions with the anthropometric and personal information of study subjects. Thirteen forest workers were asked to fell thirty trees in each of the four most common body postures during motor–manual forest operations: (i) stooping, (ii) flexed stooping, (iii) squatting, and (iv) half kneeling. Posture had a significant impact on the amount of heart strain measured as mean heart rate during work (HRwork), heart rate increase over resting heart rate (ΔHR), and relative heart rate index (HRR). The most popular position among the forest workers was flexed stooping, which also caused the most damage, compared with the least physiologically damaging position, half kneeling: HRwork by 12.40 bpm, ΔHR by 10.24 bpm, and HRR by 11.51. On the contrary, overweight and older subjects experienced lower heart rate strain, a finding that has to be further investigated.

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“…The data analysis aimed at the estimation of the relative heart rate (HRR) at work according to Equation (1) [ 37 , 38 ]:

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has shown that tree felling and processing are the most demanding phases of harvesting trees [ 3 , 28 ]. It comes as no surprise that chainsaw operators suffer from high MSD prevalence [ 2 , 15 , 33 , 34 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Body Posture on Heart Rate Strain during Tree Felling

Tsioras

Khooshdohbat

Nikooy

et al. 2022

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Postural Assessment of Three Wood Measurement Options by the OWAS Method: Digital Solutions Seem to Be Better

Borz

Papandrea

Marcu

et al. 2022

Forests

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Ergonomic assessment and validation are important in designing sustainable forest operations. Measurement and grading play a central role in the wood supply chain and updated solutions have started to emerge for such activities. Procuring biometric data by mobile scanning platforms has been shown to have a high potential in replacing traditional wood measurement methods, but no assessments were carried out to see if these solutions are sustainable from an ergonomics point of view. Based on more than 63 k still images, this study evaluates the working postures of three measurement options, namely, traditional measurement, scanning by a smartphone, and scanning by a commercial laser scanner. The OWAS method was used as an assessment framework to compute the postural risk indexes. A correspondence analysis was implemented to explore the association between the studied work tasks and severity of exposure, and the postural similarity of tasks was evaluated by the Canberra metric. The use of digital measurement solutions seems to be better from a postural point of view since their risk indexes were well below 200. In contrast, traditional wood measurement tasks produced postural risk indexes that were close to 250. By considering the body components, digital measurement solutions seemed to indicate a distinct postural profile. Moreover, the digital solutions stood well apart in the range of the first two action categories, indicating no urgent need for postural improvement, which was not the case for manual measurements. The main conclusion of the study is that state-of-the-art digital solutions are better from a postural point of view. For full validation, population-level studies should be carried out.

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Deliberations of Forestry Workers on Current Challenges and Future Perspectives on Their Profession—A Case Study from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Šporčić

Landekić

Šušnjar

et al. 2023

Forests

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Professionally trained, motivated, and responsible forestry workers are a fundamental prerequisite of successful forest production and an integral part of the modern, generally accepted paradigm of sustainable forest management. However, the forestry sector today is increasingly facing the problem of a shortage of forestry workers and the challenge of obtaining a qualified and sustainable workforce. This paper, therefore, presents the reflections of forestry workers on the challenges and future perspectives on their profession and forest work. The findings of the examination of forestry workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina include some general characteristics of forest work and indicators of the state and position of forestry workers (socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes toward work, profession, etc.). Specially addressed are some problems and challenges faced by the forestry sector in obtaining and recruiting the necessary workforce—the severity of the forestry worker shortage, the main causes and reasons for the lack of workers, factors for stronger recruitment and retention of workers, work commitment, sustainability of the workforce, future perspectives on forestry work, etc. The differences between workers employed in public and private forestry companies were examined. The survey included 268 respondents and was carried out in the second half of 2021. The purpose of the work was in sensibilizing the profession and the public to the issues of the workforce in forestry, its position, and reflections, and in providing the basis that can be an important contribution toward improving the condition and sustainability of the forestry workforce.

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Mental Workload, Occupational Fatigue and Musculoskeletal Disorders of Forestry Professionals

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

The Impact of Body Posture on Heart Rate Strain during Tree Felling

The Impact of Body Posture on Heart Rate Strain during Tree Felling

Postural Assessment of Three Wood Measurement Options by the OWAS Method: Digital Solutions Seem to Be Better

Deliberations of Forestry Workers on Current Challenges and Future Perspectives on Their Profession—A Case Study from Bosnia and Herzegovina

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