New and emerging occupational risk and associations with small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in Malaysia: A review

Other than traditional occupational risks, new and emerging risk or known as ‘NER’ is initially explored by European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) in 2002. The fundamental of NER is provided by EU-OSHA with four export forecasts on emerging risk associated with physical, psychological, chemical and biological. The study of NER is considered as a new discipline that needs a better clarification on the definition of the idea itself. Meanwhile, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contributed to the high rate of accident leading to high compensation and economic loss. This paper strives for reviewing the definitions of NER and association with SMEs. Journal articles were compiled from Scopus and Web of Science. The keywords used in the selection of the articles are reviews, definition, risk, occupational risk, new and emerging risk and SMEs. Based on the finding of the literature reviews of NER, issues of risk in Malaysia SMEs were explored and categorised accordingly

Emerging risks management in small and medium sized enterprise

Following the changes from years to years, there are always new and upgraded technologies created and utilised in industries which then generates emerging risks to workers. To this recent, there are hardly studies conducted related to the management of emerging risks in SMEs in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the safety management applied for emerging risks in SMEs and to determine the significant differences between the size of enterprises and barriers in managing emerging risks. The study was conducted by distributing a self-administered questionnaire to 55 manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. The data was then analysed by using SPSS software. From the survey, lack of OSH expert was considered as the main barrier with average percentage of 23.1% followed by complexity of legal obligations by 21.5%, lack of knowledge in OSH (20.5%), lack of financial resources (20%) and lack of training (18.7%). It shows that safety and health performance in SMEs are most influenced by the presence of OSH expertise. There is no significant differences between the size of enterprises and the barriers in managing emerging risks. This can be concluded that, both small and medium enterprises shared the same difficulties in managing emerging risks at their workplace

Ergonomic assessment of musculoskeletal symptoms and associated risk factors among pineapple plantation workers

Malaysia is on an attempt to become one of the largest producers of pineapples in Southeast Asia. As there are many new developed pineapple plantation areas, there are high job demands to work in this sector. Agricultural works is always associated with high demand, heavy and labor intensive works. Thus, plantation workers are constantly at risk for developing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders. Pineapple plantation job activities start with planting, maintaining, manual weeding and harvesting. These job activities are known as quite repetitive, long time consuming and laborious in nature. In spite of various prolonged awkward postures, the workers also exposed to heavy manual work during harvesting activity. This study aims to identify the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among workers of pineapple plantations; analyze the postural analysis assessment; and to test the postural scores in terms of its validity. Data collection was conducted in three different pineapple plantations in Pahang which took three months. A modified questionnaire adapted from Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used during recognizing the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among the workers. Dynamic activities of workers were recorded and by using stand still photos, two type of postural assessment; Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) and Manual Handling Assessment Chart (MAC) were carried out. After that, the results were validated by using Surface Electromyography (sEMG) technique. The survey results showed that 62.1% of workers experienced lower back pain, followed by 58.2% of workers experienced pain on the waist and 33% of workers felt pain on their knees. OWAS identified three activities; planting (39.8%), manual weed (42.7%) and harvesting (60.2%) were categorized mainly in Action Category 3 which indicated distinctly harmful. Meanwhile, planting (17.5%) and manual weed (27.2%) also fell into Action Category 4 which indicated as extremely harmful. MAC assessment for lifting activity showed that 100% were in level 3 (risk level 13-20), signify that action required soon. On the other hand, carrying activity showed that 33.3% were in level 2 (risk level 5-12), signify that action required near future whereas 66.7% were in level 3 (risk level 13-20) which signify action required soon. The overall result from the study shows that pineapple plantation workers are highly exposed to ergonomic hazards risk factors such as awkward postures and heavy lifting. This study suggests that ergonomic intervention such as mechanization of tools and equipment should be implemented in order to eliminate poor postures and manual handling task. In case of incapability for any mechanization, adequate and effective training should be constantly provided. Therefore, workers can implement safe work practices

Defining Human Factor and Ergonomic and its related issues in Malaysia Pineapple Plantations

Human factor and ergonomic has been a standardized as synonymous for a long time and has great potential to contribute in designing all kinds of systems with people. However, some opinions draw precisely distinctions among these terms. Numerous studies have been conducted in their attempt to understand the concept of human factor and ergonomic. The meaning of each term must be clearly understood before using them in any research to understand how human beings interact with surroundings. So, this paper seeks to review the definition of human factor and ergonomic. English articles and books dated as far 1970 were compiled from Taylor and Francis Online, Google Scholar and Science Direct. The keywords used in the selection of the articles are human factors, human factors engineering, ergonomics, industrial ergonomics, reviews, definition, difference and risk factors. A risk model related to each term is also provided to have more understanding towards it. Based on the finding of the literature review of human factor and ergonomic issue in pineapple plantation were explore and are categorized accordingly

Analyses of working postures among malaysia pineapple plantation workers using ovako working posture analysis system

Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) is a method which was extensively used in studying work postures. In this study, OWAS method was utilized to evaluate working postures of pineapple plantation workers on full job cycles in plantation and to determine if there was significant association with the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among them. There were 103 pineapple plantation workers, with an average working experience of one to three years, participated in this study. Four major job activities of pineapple plantation were videotaped at the plantation and the process of analyzed was conducted afterward. OWAS identified for an overall distribution that planting, manual weed and harvesting were tasks which fell into category Action Category (AC) 3 which indicated distinctly harmful and AC4 which indicated extremely harmful. This study also identified there was a significant relationship between OWAS postural category and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms of lower back and waist. To sum up, working in a pineapple plantation was a physical demanded job which involved poor prolonged postures. Consequently, some preventive actions must be applied to reduce the exposure

Defining Human Factor and Ergonomic and its related issues in Malaysia Pineapple Plantations

Human factor and ergonomic has been a standardized as synonymous for a long time and has great potential to contribute in designing all kinds of systems with people. However, some opinions draw precisely distinctions among these terms. Numerous studies have been conducted in their attempt to understand the concept of human factor and ergonomic. The meaning of each term must be clearly understood before using them in any research to understand how human beings interact with surroundings. So, this paper seeks to review the definition of human factor and ergonomic. English articles and books dated as far 1970 were compiled from Taylor and Francis Online, Google Scholar and Science Direct. The keywords used in the selection of the articles are human factors, human factors engineering, ergonomics, industrial ergonomics, reviews, definition, difference and risk factors. A risk model related to each term is also provided to have more understanding towards it. Based on the finding of the literature review of human factor and ergonomic issue in pineapple plantation were explore and are categorized accordingly

Job Hazard Analyses (JHA) for Ergonomics Risk Factors in Malaysian Pineapple Plantation

The prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms (MSS) rapidly increases and it is recognized as a significant health outcome in agricultural sector. Agricultural ergonomics risk factor is one of hazards constantly arising from all job task activities including awkward postures and heavy lifting. Job hazard analyses (JHA) were conducted to assess the exposure of ergonomics risk factors in Malaysia Pineapple Plantation. The analyses performed involved two steps. They were: 1) guidelines and manual book Malaysia Pineapple Plantation as references; and 2) conducting walkthrough observation based on checklist approaches at the plantation. The identified risk factors were prolonged exposure of standing, squatting, stooping and kneeling, highly repetitive motion on the lower limbs, deviation and twisting of wrist and lastly, heavy lifting. The analyses confirmed that the exposure to ergonomics risk factors in pineapple plantation is high. It would be desirable to reduce the risk factors by educating and training the pineapple workers to perform their task with strong consideration of occupational safety and health

Occupational safety and health risk management in pineapple plantation

Risk management in the agricultural setting are considered an important element in rising up the quality of working life among workers. A descriptive cross sectional study had been conducted at Rompine Integrated Pineapple Plantation (RIPP) to disseminate knowledge to workers and management in relation to occupational safety and health (OSH) risk management. A series of data collection activities had been conducted through a walkthrough observation, interviews and video recording. Subsequently, the research team had developed and delivered a comprehensive four units’ module from February to August 2017. This module had been developed clearly based on the identified issues or problems at the pineapple plantation. A number of 10 identified hazards had been analysed and were added to the module mainly to be discussed and clarify to the audience emphasizing on way how to reduce the risk. Two hours of face to face lecturing session were performed by the instructors for each module. Notably, it is proven that audience had improved their knowledge and awareness after the session finish. Knowledge and awareness of occupational safety and health had been transferred through these four modules to the audience. It can be shown through their willingness to perform safe work practice as well as to participate in activities related to safety and health awareness such as campaign and group discussion. The successful of the knowledge transfer program (KTP) at RIPP also spread to other branches of pineapple plantation under Malaysia Pineapple Industry Board (MPIB). The awareness on OSH among top management was improved. The demand on OSH training and education in multiple state also increased. It was indirectly improved MPIB reputation local and globally. In conclusion, workers and management team had successfully increased their knowledge and awareness towards safety and health issues arises at their plantation, by participating in the four units modules developed. Indeed, results from this positive outcome had increase generally the economic gain and pineapple production capability in RIPP