Ergonomic risk assessment of sea fisherman part III: Manual handling and static posture

According to ILO, WHO and EU data, the fishing sector is among the most dangerous working sectors. Common standardized protocols for biomechanical risk assessment can hardly be used due to peculiar characteristics of high seas fisheries (exposure to extreme temperatures, boat instability, floor slipperiness). Few studies, carried out in laboratory simulations, have already highlighted the high biomechanical load risk to which workers are exposed. Aim of the study is to analyze manual material handling task and awkward postures adopted by workers during sorting and cleaning in real working conditions. The last version of the 3DSSPP software was used. This software takes into account the recent muscle fatigue limits suggested by the ACGIH. During the sorting and cleaning tasks, the most relevant risk factor was trunk flexion. Workers maintain static extreme trunk flexion for long times often exceeding fatigue limits suggested by ACGIH. Also, for manual material handling we found high level risk exceeding the limits suggested by literature for shear and orthogonal forces acting at lumbosacral level and the fatigue limits suggested by ACGIH. The most relevant risk factors for manual material handling were trunk extreme postures and the handled weight. Mutual support of the crew and the introduction of automated systems can reduce biomechanical risk increasing rest times for physiological recovery.