ABSTRACT
This study was conducted in a forest company of the Northern coast of the State of Bahia, Brazil with the objective of analyzing the handling weight of workers debarking operation, and comparing them with the recommended weight limits in the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The debarking was done with a debark system coupled to the force captured by a tractor. The table receptor supply of timber was done by two workers. The third worker pushed the timbers into the debark system and the fourth one received them debarked depositing them into the ground. The data on weight handling were obtained through a load cell. The distances between load and body, angles, displacements, and recurrences were obtained about by direct measurement and a time series analysis. The analysis of recommended weight limits was performed using a model developed by the NIOSH. According to the results, the operations of the timber debark can not be corried out by this mode because of the high frequency of weight handling per minute observed.
Key words:
Forest ergonomic; timber debark; recommended weight limits