Abstract
Ergonomic hazards are prevalent in the fishery sector of India, where majority of the activities are accomplished manually. This paper incorporates identification of the occupational hazards associated with freshwater aquaculture that included semi-intensive grow out fish culture and fish seed production along with ideas for mitigation measures. Assessment of impact of long term exposure (25–30 years) to some of the occupational hazards revealed work related musculoskeletal disorders and discomforts in 84–96% of the workers. Muscle injury, cut, skin diseases, and eye problem, gastrointestinal disorders, bronchial and lung disorders were recorded in 92–100% workers working for long time in water or in wet condition. Measures/devices conceptualised and designed at Fisheries Research Centre, Assam Agricultural University, for mitigating some of the identified ergonomic hazards vis a vis enhancing work efficiency were incorporated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barr, A.E., Barbe, M.F., Clark, B.D. Work-related musculoskeletal disorder of hands and wrist: epidemiology, pathophysiology, and sensorimotor changes. J. Orthop. Sports Phys. Ther. 34(10), 610–627 (2004)
Bovenzi, M., Zadini, A.: Self-reported low back symptoms in urban bus drivers exposed to whole body vibration. Spine 17, 1048–1059 (1992)
Bibha, C.B., Bania, R.: Carp seed production in North East India with special reference to Assam, Assam Agricultural University, 108 p. (2014). ISBN: 978-93-81710-36-4
Bibha, C.B., Das, A.J., Gogoi, R., Bordoloi, B.: Technical viability of incorporation of low cost Aquaponics in integrated chicken fish farming system. Bioscan 10, 01–08 (2017). Special Issue
Hagberg, M.: Occupational musculo-skeletal disorders- a new epidemiological challenge. In: Reuterwall, C., Hogstedt, C. (eds.) Progress in Occupational Epidemiology. Elvevier Science Publisher, Amsterdam (1988)
Hagberg, M.: Pathomechanisms of work related musculo-skeletal disorders. In: Rantanen, J., Lehtinen, S., Kalimo, R., Nordman, H., Vano, H., Viikari-Juntura, E. (eds.) New Epidemics in Occupational Health, Helinskii, Finland, pp. 42–53 (1994)
Hagberg, M., Kilbom, A., Buckle, P., Fine, L.J., Itani, T., Laubli, T., Riihimaki, H., Silverstein, B.A., Sjogaard, G., Snook, S.H., Viikari-Juntura, E.: Strategies for prevention of work related musculo-skeletal disorders: consensus paper. Int. J. Ind. Ergon. 1993(11), 77–81 (1993)
Kemmlert, K.: A method assigned for the identification of ergonomic hazards-PLIBEL. Appl. Ergon. 26(3), 199–211 (1995)
Melvin, L., Myers, M.P.A.: Review of occupational hazards associated with aquaculture. J. Agromed. 15(4), 412–426 (2010)
Tornër, T., Blide, G., Eriksson, H., Kadefors, R., Karlsson, R., Petersen, I.: Workload and ergonomics measures in Swedish professional fishing. Appl. Ergon. 19–3, 202–212 (1988)
Baruah, U.K., Borah, C.B.: BBL-95 carp hatchery: a low-cost carp hatchery for small farmers. In: Proceedings of the National Seminar on Emerging Trends of Small and Medium Enterprises in Generating Employment in North Eastern Region of CKB Commerce College, Jorhat (2008)
Yusuff, M., Daud, R.M., Zulkifli, N.: Identification of ergonomics risk factors in the fishery industry. In: Proceedings of the 9th South East Asian Ergonomics Society Conference 2008, pp. 1–8 (2008)
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges her deep sense of gratitude to Dr. K.M. Bujarbaruah, Honorable Vice Chancellor, Assam Agricultural University for his valuable suggestions and supports provided during this study. She is also thankful to all the workers of FRC Farm and M/S Rabigaon Fish farm, for their whole hearted cooperation and Mr Amlan Jyoti Das, Technical Assistant FRC for his help in preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Borah, B.C. (2019). Ergonomic Hazards Associated with Freshwater Aquaculture and Possible Mitigation Measures. In: Rebelo, F., Soares, M. (eds) Advances in Ergonomics in Design. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 777. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94706-8_39
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94706-8_39
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94705-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94706-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)