Comparison of AWBA, RULA, REBA, OWAS for assessing potential work-related musculoskeletal disorder in oyster mushroom farmers (case study of oyster mushroom farms in Lempake Samarinda)

Abstract

Likewise in most agricultural work, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) also occur in oyster mushroom farmers since the work conditions tend to have awkward static postures. This study compares four representative observational methods which are: AWBA (Agricultural Whole Body Assessment), RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment), and OWAS (Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System) to acquire the most suitable method for assessing MSDs of oyster mushroom farmers. The comparison was conducted based on the result of experts' evaluation of 25 activities in the oyster mushroom production process. A total of 12 experienced experts of ergonomics, safety and health, and agriculture were involved in this study, and four oyster mushroom farms in Lempake Samarinda were observed to identify the activities. Hit rate, quadratic weighted κ, and one-way ANOVA were applied to compare the four methods. The result of the hit rate showed that the hit rate of AWBA (average: 75%) was significantly higher than RULA (62%), REBA (54%), and OWAS (27%). The quadratic weight of Kappa analysis also showed that the Kappa value of AWBA (0.475) was higher than REBA (0.239), RULA (0.261), and OWAS (0.039). Based on the results, AWBA had a better agreement with expert evaluation results than RULA, REBA, and OWAS. Furthermore, the one-way ANOVA test showed that scores of REBA and OWAS were significantly different from the expert assessment. These findings concluded that the AWBA method would be the appropriate tool to evaluate MSDs risk of oyster mushroom farmers in Samarinda.