# Musculoskeletaleltal Symptoms and Assessment of Ergonomic Risk Factors on a Coffee Farm
## 1 Introduction
### Risk Factors and Musculoskeletal Lesions in Agricultural Workers  
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) confirms that musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common occupational diseases in Europe, and indicates that, although these are present in various areas of the body, the most common places are the back and upper extremities [35]. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion people are involved in one way or another in agricultural work [36], and that around 80% of agricultural workers have reported musculoskeletal symptoms [35]. On the other hand, according to data provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 33.8 out of 10,000 agricultural workers reported having symptoms related to musculoskeletal disorders [37; 38]. The rate of musculoskeletal disorders of agricultural workers compared to other productive sectors is one of the highest [39; 40]. [PERSON] et al. [41] found a 85.6% prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in at least one part of the body over 12 months in Canadian farmers. In a study carried out with workers who harvested coffee manually, although it was found that they mainly manifested musculoskeletal discomfort in the lower extremities, when evaluating the intensity of muscle contraction by means of surface electromyography and the measurement of joint angles, it was found that this activity requires considerable physical effort at the level of the upper limbs [42]. A study in Colombian coffee plantations showed that the muscle with the greatest demand was the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle, which is located at the level of the upper extremities; the dynamic activity of this muscle exceeded 20% of the maximum voluntary contraction, making coffee harvesting a threatening activity for the generation of musculoskeletal injuries [43]. [PERSON] [44] mentions that the work postures that are adopted during the coffee harvesting activity are because the fruit of the trees is at a height that exceeds the height of the worker; however, at the same time, he maintains that it is complex to explain musculoskeletal disorders only from a biomechanical perspective, since the time of exposure to such postures is also involved in their generation. In this regard, there is a broad consensus on the interrelationship between several risk factors, the most documented in this type of activity being physical factors such as repetitive manual work [45], uncomfortable work postures [46; 47], loads of heavy physical labor [36; 48] and exposure to vibrations [49; 50]. However, research on ergonomic evaluations of workers during the coffee harvest is still scarce [51]. The identification of ergonomic risks to which workers are exposed is the first step to improve working conditions, achieving a balance between decent work and economic growth (SDG8). Previous studies in coffee farms show that workers are exposed to biomechanical risk factors and present musculoskeletal discomfort [36; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48], thus, the need arises to carry out a specific evaluation that considers these risk factors. That is why the objective of this research is to identify musculoskeletal symptoms and evaluate ergonomic risk factors in three occupations of a certified coffee farm in Honduras. The case study company was founded in 2014 in response to the unemployment crisis in Marcala, aggravated by the Roya disease in coffee plants. This company promotes direct business between producers and buyers, fair trade, the wellbeing of women and children and environmental protection. It has more than 150 producers (40% women) dedicated to producing sustainable high-quality coffee and has a stable and growing relationship with more than 20 buyers in the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. Their efforts have earned them Fair Trade, UTZ certified, Denomination of Origin Marcala Coffee, Manos de Mujer and Organic certification, as well as international recognition for quality.