Abstract

  Crop protection is important to control weeds, pest, insects and diseases in crops as it hinders in yield and quality of produce. But they may cause harm to human health because of their toxic nature and long persistence in the environment where the farmers work. Prolonged exposure may result in chronic diseases. The health hazards in crop protection found were categorized under physiological hazards such as body pain, fatigue, sprains, ligament pull, headache, and fever, mechanical hazards such as injury, cuts and accidents due to spraying equipment, chemical hazards such as skin or respiratory problems due to insecticides, fungicides, pesticides etc. used and environmental hazards due to extreme weather conditions. The main causes elicited for hazards during crop protection activities were duration of exposure, non-use of PPE, improper work methods, personal habits, ignorance of safety instructions and unsafe storage and handling of chemicals. Thus, it is important that the farmers must be made aware about the hazards through proper training and educational interventions. Then only, the health of half of the population working in agriculture can be protected and they will be able to lead a quality life.

Keywords: Health Hazards; Farm Workers; Crop Protection

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Citation

Citation: Rekha Vyas. “Ergonomic Assessment of Occupational Health Hazards to Farm Workers in Crop Protection Activities". Acta Scientific Agriculture 4.3 (2020): 01-03.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Rekha Vyas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.