Ergonomic Risk Factors Associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders and Fatigue among Horticultural Farmers in Agrotourism Settings

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-805-4_28How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Agrotourism; Ergonomic Risk; Horticultural Farmers; Musculoskeletal Disorders; RULA; Work Fatigue

Abstract

Combining crop production with visitor-service responsibilities may intensify the physical demands placed on horticultural farmers in agrotourism enterprises. This field-based cross-sectional investigation quantified postural exposure, musculoskeletal discomfort, fatigue, and cardiovascular workload in 110 farmers. MSD complaints were recorded with the Nordic Body Map; the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) was used to rate working posture; subjective fatigue was obtained through a structured questionnaire; and heart rate represented physiological demand. Pre- and post-work outcomes were tested with paired t tests, associations were examined using Pearson coefficients, and post-work MSD scores were modeled with hierarchical multiple regression. Across the principal tasks, mean RULA values were 5.45-6.02, consistent with moderate-to-high action requirements. MSD scores rose from 10.64 ± 1.26 to 26.90 ± 5.54 and fatigue from 34.06 ± 1.45 to 59.34 ± 12.56 (both p < 0.001). RULA had a very strong association with post-work MSDs (r = 0.955, p < 0.001) and a moderate association with fatigue (r = 0.563, p < 0.001). After age, work experience, BMI, and working hours were entered as covariates, the final model accounted for 92.1% of MSD variance (adjusted R² = 0.917). Postural risk was the dominant independent predictor (β = 0.905, p < 0.001), whereas ΔHR contributed modestly (β = 0.076, p = 0.023). The results point to task-level redesign, improved material handling, work-rest organization, and safer access paths as priorities for risk reduction.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - M. Yusuf
AU  - Lilik Sudiajeng
AU  - Wayan Suastawa
AU  - Hendriketa da Silva
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
TI  - Ergonomic Risk Factors Associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders and Fatigue among Horticultural Farmers in Agrotourism Settings
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Green Tourism Applied Science - Engineering Applied Science 2026 (ICOSTAS-EAS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 262
EP  - 271
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-805-4_28
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-805-4_28
ID  - Yusuf2026
ER  -