Work-related musculo-skeletal disorders in apiculture: a biomechanical approach to the risck assessment

The risk assessment in apiculture points out methodological problems due to discontinuities and variability of exposure. This study analyzes a comprehensive set of potential determinants influencing the biomechanical risks in apiarists using recognized technical standards to ensure the technical-scientific accuracy; it offers a simplified methodological toolkit to be used in the risk assessment process and provides a user-friendly computer application. The toolkit asks the beekeeper to specify, for each month, the total number of hours worked, specifying the distribution among different tasks. As a result, the application calculates the average index risk and the peak index risk. The evidence of the study indicates that there are activities in this occupational area with biomechanical risks that remain for some tasks, while reducing the exposure time.