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Pesticide Application : According to WHO (1990 report, there are 3 million severe pesticide poisoning cases in a global level every year of which 2 million cases are suicidal and 7 million are occupational accidents. In India pesticide poisoning has increased to alarming proportions. Women Workers are mostly involved in making pesticide mixtures with water & pouring them into sprayer. In some places they carry out actual spraying operation. Treating seeds with chemicals is mainly done by women. In all this contact of pesticide with skin & eyes is common & causes irritation besides other clinical problems. Inhalation of pesticides and fumes results in dizziness, headache, & other health disorders due to the unawareness of the health hazard involved in pesticides application.
The pesticide applicators, mixers and loaders are at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals. It is not uncommon that the farmers broadcast pesticides or prepare pesticide solution with bare hands. Improper handling of pesticides, spraying without wearing personal protective equipment, oral poisoning of pesticides, etc. led to many sprayer related 14.5 accidents. The health and safety concerns demand institutional measures for comprehensive training on pesticide safety, dress code, emergency assistance in case of exposure. The implementation feasibility of precautionary measures requires to be examined, since it is a difficult behaviour to enforce in the tropical areas where protective wears add to the heat stress of the wearer.
During the different stages of crop production, storage, packaging and transport, the pesticides are applied is the form of liquid sprays, mists, dusts, fogs, smokes, aerosol canisters and granules, thereby to protect crops from weeds, pests and diseases. The main function of pesticide spraying is to atomize the spray fluid into small droplets and eject the same to give uniform deposit of pesticide on the target. The sprayer equipment may be manual, tractor operated or power operated. The small sprayers are mostly hydraulic energy type manually operated sprayers, e.g., compression or lever operated knapsack sprayers, hand or foot operated bucket sprayer, rocking sprayer, duster and power knapsack sprayer. Nearly 5 million plant protection appliances are in use in rural India, of which about 3 million are lever operated knapsack sprayers. A typical lever-operated knapsack sprayer consists of a plastic or metallic tank of 10 to 20 liter capacity, a connecting hose with a lance, a nozzle and an operating lever (under-arm or over-arm type) for left hand operation. The tank has a pressure chamber and pump inside it or outside. Carrying on the back, the spraying is done at a frequency of 6 to 30 strokes/min. These sprayers are usually operated at a working pressure of 300 and 100 kPa for pesticide and herbicide applications, respectively.
The sprayer operators experience fatigue mainly due to carrying of the sprayer load as well as continuous lever operation. The vibration arising out of powered sprayers also causes discomfort to the operator. Based on a survey of 5,340 knapsack sprayer users, Gite et al. noted that the pain and discomfort of the shoulder region have been reported by 62% of users, followed by back, left arm and other regions. Since 92% of the users were right handed, the majority desired that the force required in left-handed lever operation should be reduced.
The pesticide applicators, mixers and loaders are at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals. It is not uncommon that the farmers broadcast pesticides or prepare pesticide solution with bare hands. Improper handling of pesticides, spraying without wearing personal protective equipment, oral poisoning of pesticides, etc. led to many sprayer related accidents (14.5 accidents/1000 sprayers/yr) in the southern India (Table 2). The health and safety concerns demand institutional measures for comprehensive training on pesticide safety, dress code, emergency assistance in case of exposure. The implementation feasibility of precautionary measures requires to be examined, since it is a difficult behaviour to enforce in the tropical areas where protective wears add to the heat stress of the wearer.
Tobacco Cultivation
“Green tobacco Sickness” is the occupational health problem associated with tobacco harvesting. It is characterized by headache, vomiting, nausea weakness etc. During handling of green tobacco leaves, the nicotine absorbed through skin and causes the above symptoms. Use of gloves will help to reduce this sickness.
Field Operation
While carrying out various agricultural activities as transplanting, weeding, harvesting, soil handing, threshing, the women workers get abrasions, injuries on different body parts by objects like splinters, thorns, sticks or hand tools. Fungal and Bacterial infections may enter through the injury point & cause infection & sickness. Immediate attention to cuts on skin, dressing the wounds with antiseptic & timely medical treatment can help to reduce the hazard. Septic is very common due to the cut made by Khurpi and Darati. It causes many times septics among the farmers.
Livestock Farming
Agricultural workers are at higher risk acquiring zonotic diseases because of the close link between agricultural & animal husbandry. About 40 zonotic diseases have been recognized as occupational diseases in global. Agriculture workers may acquire zonotic diseases through. Mostly women are engaged in livestock activities and due to this they are susceptible to all the problems related livestock farming.
- Direct Contact with diseased animal.
- Consumption of Contaminated water, milk etc.
- Inhalation of infectious organisms.
- Accidental inoculation of pathogen through skin.
Harvesting
Harvesting of rice, wheat and other crops takes away nearly 10% of the total man-hours used in crop production. A sickle is the most common harvesting tool – it consists of a curved serrated blade attached to a wooden handle however with a variety of designs. The average area (paddy/wheat) harvested by a person using a sickle ranged from 80 to 90 sqm/h. The sickle ergonomics, blade geometry, blade serration and material, handle shape and size, and mechanics of operation have their effects on work performance. The paddy wheat harvesting in hot climate causes a considerable cardio-respiratory and thermo-regulatory strain. Mostly women are involved in harvesting process due to this they get pain in their body, hands and legs. Sometime they get heat stroke, vomiting and severe headache.
Post Harvest Operations
With the introduction of machinery and devices (e.g., groundnut decorticator, rice and soybean huller, areca nut dehuller, potato peeler, potato/cassava slicer, coconut dehusker, castor sheller) there is a substantial increase in output. For example, the traditional hand and foot operated hullers have been fast replaced by motorized rice mills. In grain mill/rice hullers, the power is given from a motor with a flat belt of V belt. This type of open power transmission causes accidents by entanglement of loose cloth, hair or other body part. Decortications involve breaking of shells and removal of seeds (e.g., groundnuts, castor beans). A groundnut decorticator separates kernels from pods. In manual decortications (about 2 kg of pod shelling/h) the workers complain of bodily discomfort due to the long hours of sitting or squatting posture.
The primary events of farm incidents (fatal and non-fatal) are (a) entanglement of loose garment, hair or limbs, in moving machines, (b) cut with hand tools, (c) fall from tractors or into wells, (d) run over by tractor, (e) overturning of tractor, (f) hit by moving machine parts or falling objects, (g) snakebites, (h) electrocution due to live electric wires, etc. The men-folks generally operate the injury-prone machinery, and the women-folks are involved in helping their husbands. Sometime the women also become the victim of these problems.
Grain threshing and chaff cutting
The age-old methods of threshing of grain from the paddy pinnacle are- rubbing the earheads with one’s feet, heating of the harvested crop on a plank, animal treading, etc. The mechanical as well as pedal threshers are available today for threshing of paddy and wheat crops. In manual threshing by beating, one can separate about 100kg of grain/h, whereas by using a pedal thresher (oscillating or rotary mode) one can separate about 150 kg of grain/h. However, the pedal threshing is a strenuous activity with high muscular strain due to speedy pedaling and holding of paddy plants on the rolling drum. The ergonomics improvement in the pedal thresher might allow a rhythmic legwork in sit-stand position; in addition, the weight of the rolling drum at about 8 kg might be comfortable to the user. Women are involved in paddy threshing. They have to work long hours and threshing requires energy. Due to this women get tired and feels pain in their body.
Some of the threshers used by the farmers do not fulfill the mandatory safety requirement given by Indian Standards IS:9020 and IS:9129. Some accidents have also occurred even with the threshers having BIS specified feeding chutes, due to improper method of feeding, putting a cloth or gunny bag around hand to protect it from abrasion due to crop, unstable platform, open electric wire etc. Neglect of safety precautions during thresher operation also leas to some accidents.
Manual materials handling
The farmers frequently get involved in manual materials handling tasks, associated with manuring, harvesting of crops, grain storage, transportation, etc. In rural areas, loads weighing over 100 kg might be carried several miles on a daily basis. The women and children have to fetch water and fuel wood from a distance. The modes of load carrying include carrying on the head, on the hips, on the back and on the shoulder (yoke), with substantial risk of musculoskeletal strains, including spinal injuries.
Snakebites
Snakebite accidents are common when the farmers work in open fields, threshing yards, barns, irrigation work and storage sheds, particularly during night work. Special hats and foot wear that are capable of deflecting snakes should be worn in locations where there would be trees, shrubs, crop plants, etc. Non-availability of emergency accessibility of medical assistance in case of snakebites might be attributed to the higher fatality rate in the rural areas.
Falls and falling objects
The farmers are exposed to potential injury from slips and falls from slippery and uneven surfaces, unguarded roofs and raised platforms, tipping over objects or being pushed by a moving object, climbing ladders, silos, tractors, etc. During loading or unloading, collapse of unsecuredly stacked foodstuffs and overhead materials often causes injury. The probability of fall injury increases dramatically when the fall height is more than 2 m and that impact forces reduce many folds if the victim falls on soft earth, hay or sand. In rural areas where the wells are not constructed with parapet walls, accidents happen in large numbers due to fall and drowning in wells, or fall of stones on workers while working in wells etc. Therefore, protection against falls may include such measures that are realistic for the cluttered farm environment.
Overhead electric wires
The use of electricity in rural areas with overhead electrical lines is a common sight. There are also transformers and distribution points locate in some fields. In case of some electrical fault, the farmers go directly to such transformers and filled it to check repair the fault. The electrocution accidents are common in such cases. Accidents also happen because of touching of irrigation pipes to overhead lines inadvertently. During handling and transportation of agricultural products, such as hay, straw, vegetables, grains and feeds, the farmers are at risk of respiratory disorders, due to exposure to dusts, gases, toxic chemicals, fungal spores and endotoxins. The lung disorders, such as farmer’s lung, green tobacco sickness, organic dust toxic syndrome, bronchitis and airway obstruction have been reported.
Child Accident
The children working or playing in familiar fields are exposed to hazards of farming, such as machinery, pesticides, fuels, noxious gases, airborne irritants, noise, vibration and zoonoses. Tiwari et al. reported that the primary agents of child (<14 yr) accidents in the farms are tractors and other machinery, livestock, building structures and falls. The AICRP data (Table 2) indicated that the children sustained about 2 to 5% injuries (southern, northern and central India), with 10% injuries reported from the villages in eastern India. These data were in contrast to observations from northern India, where the children sustained 17% of total farm injuries.
Winnower hazards
As the winnower has moving blades, cloth or hairs can get entangled or some body parts may touch the fan blades leading to accidents.
Hand tools hazards
Various types of hand tools are extensively used in agriculture for different operations such as  pickaxe, spade, sickle etc. With pickaxe, the soil is dug by hitting the tool on the ground and loosening the soil with it. In the operation of this tool, a lot of load comes on the back as here the force is applied in bending posture. Backache or back injury are common problems while operating the pickaxe. In the operation of a spade, the major part which gets injured is food. Many times the workers hits the spade on his own foot as he cannot see the foot due to weeds, soil or water. Sometimes workers also suffer from backache or back injury as this operation is also done in bending posture. Another hand tool which is extensively used for harvesting is sickle. In may designs of the sickle, the end point is very sharp and it causes a lot of injuries to foot or leg during harvesting operation. Many times the hand also gets cut/bruised during the operation. Most of the hand tools related accidents are due to either lacunae in the design of tools or improper operation of these tools.
Heat stroke
Agricultural operations are carried out in summer at high temperature up to 480C. If due care is not taken, the workers suffer due to heat stroke in some cases. In the open-field farming, the solar heat particularly in the summer months is a health hazard and can be life-threatening. The farmers must be well-informed of recognizing the heat stress and disorder, and immediate remedial measures. The change in the work timings and schedule, and optimized work-rest ratio might avoid high heat load. However, these measures depend upon the situation and there is a need for information about the task, the people, human adaptability, and the environment.
Lightening
During rains or thunderstorms, general tendency of a person is to locate a tree in the field to save himself from rain and wind. Unfortunately when lightning strikes, it is a tree which is hit first. A lot of deaths are reported in agriculture due to lightning. Such accidents can be avoided if a person remains away from a tree.
Fall/drowning in wells Many wells in rural areas are not properly constructed. In may cases there are no parapet walls also. Such situations lead to well accidents such as fall of stones on workers while working in well, fall in well due to oversight, drowning in well etc. As every day the worker have to go to the well either for irrigation purpose or for getting drinking water, such accidents happen in large numbers.
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