No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Noise can entail irreversible damage to the health of workers exposed to this factor. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate noise levels emitted by chainsaws during forest cutting activity. Noise measurements were performed with dosimeters on the workstation and compared to NR15. The noise dose average of all activities in the operation studied exceeded the maximum allowable limit of 85 dB(A) for 8 hours of continuous work, exposing operators to noise levels that may cause health and physical damages. The most critical situation occurred on felling activity, evidencing the lack of acting in the chainsaws designs aiming to reduce noise levels. The results highlight the requirement to use PPE's suitable for activities, such as hearing dampers, and point to the need to develop research and new equipment with less noisy sources that aim at maintaining the health of the harvesting operators.Word keys: forestry techniques and operations; ergonomics; occupational health; forest cutting.

This study evaluated ergonomically the workers of a furniture industry making sofa structures, located in the city of Visconde do Rio Branco, Minas Gerais State, between August 2016 and December 2016, aiming to evaluate the quality of life and the ergonomic risks of the workers present. It was evaluated a population of 66 workers, including assemblers of sofa structures and carpentry machine operators, both males. Initially, all of these were submitted to the pain test, performed by means of questions regarding the greatest and least muscular discomfort, with the help of a map of the musculature of the human body. A sample of the workers with the highest rates of muscular pain was withdrawn from this population. The sample was submitted to WHOQOL-Bref (World Health Organization Quality of Life -Bref) questionnaire, which evaluates Vasconcelos et al.; JSRR, 23(5): 1-10, 2019; Article no.JSRR.49052 2 the perception of quality of life; After the kinesiological analysis of the work, observing the positions adopted and the assembly time of the structures of the sofa; the RULA method (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), responsible for evaluate possible damage to limbs, such as the arm, forearm, wrist, neck, trunk and legs; and finally the biomechanical evaluation of static and postural forces, using 3DSSPP software (3D Static Strength Prediction Program). The results of WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire revealed that, in general, the perception of the sample about quality of life at work was classified as "very satisfactory" and the "physical environment was the one with the lowest degree of satisfaction. The kinesiological and biomechanical analyzes showed that the factors most critical to the work routine are related to wrist flexion, ulnar deviation and flexion of the indicator. However, based on static and postural forces, this activity can be developed without health risks by 97% of the workers. The load on workers during the working day did not prove to be crucial for triggering musculoskeletal disorders, so most workers are able to develop their work activities without health risks. Original Research Article