Ergonomic assessment of the working environment in selected rice mills in Thailand | |
| Author | Jaitip Wanitchang |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. AE-00-07 |
| Subject(s) | Human engineering--Thailand Work environment--Thailand |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AE-00-07 |
| Abstract | Ten rice mills in Chachoengsao province, Thailand were selected for this study. Four rice mills produced parboiled rice for export, and other six produced white rice both for domestic and abroad market. Age of rice mills varied from 2 to 20 years old. The capacity of rice mills varied from 60 to 350 tons per day. The aims of this study were (1) to measure the working environment in rice mills in terms of indoor climate, sound level of rice milling machines and total dust generated, (2) to evaluate the effect of working environment on operator health and (3) to evaluate the efficiency of the rice mills. The study revealed that the temperature inside rice mills was higher than outside by about 1 to 2 °C and the temperature did not exceed the standard value, while the air ventilation was adequate. The relative humidity was about 40 to 70%. Most of the rice milling machines created noise above 90 dB(A). At the packing area, the sound level ranged from 78.5 to 89.6 dB(A). The machine operator was exposed to noise induced hearing loss directly, as they worked with these machines. They should use ear protection device to reduce noise or isolate from noise source in order to reduce noise exposure time. The concentration of dust exceeded standard value of 15 mg/m3 in three rice mills at paddy cleaner. But at packing area concentration of dust did not exceed standard in all selected rice mills. Grain dust in rice mill was nuisance to operators. Effect of working environment on operator health revealed that only 2.2% were affected by the working environment, 7.5% had hearing problem, 15.1% had problem from dust inhalation and 45.2% suffered fatigue after work. About 17.2% of workers faced accidents and most of the accidents were caused by material handling devices. The efficiency of rice mills mostly depended on the quality of paddy input, the efficiency of rice milling machines and operator. The parboiled rice mills had higher milling yield than white rice mills. The most hazard-working environment in rice mills was noise. The workers in rice mills should use ear protective device because hazard from noise is unavoidable |
| Year | 2000 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AE-00-07 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Salokhe, V.M.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Singh, Gajendra.;Chaiyaphol Kaewprakaisaengkul; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Rajamangala Institute of Technology Bangkok, Thailand; |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2000 |