Through an ergonomic approach, this study aimed to evaluate whether workers involved in forest harvesting activities in rural properties are subject to the development of work-related diseases, as well as their consequences. A cross-sectional study with 267 forest workers in rural properties in the Brazilian Central region was used. The following evaluations were performed for each of the activities (felling, delimbing, tracing, manual extraction and manual loading): physical workload evaluation; biomechanical evaluation; risk of repetitive strain injuries/work-related musculoskeletal disorders; environmental noise and vibration factors, where relevant, and thermal overload through the Wetbulb Globe Temperature index. The results showed that in general the physical workload was very high, exceeding the cardiovascular load limits and adding to the need for work reorganization. All activities exposed workers to serious and imminent risks of developing injuries to the spine and lower limbs. Likewise, in general the risk of the appearance of RSI/WMSDs was very high for all activities evaluated. Such results are due to the combination of organizational work factors and factors of the work environment such as exposure to bad weather, uneven terrain, lifting and handling loads above tolerable limits, excessive noise and thermal overload. All of this allows to conclude that ergonomic risks and workers’ health hazards in forest harvesting in rural properties are latent and very worrying, and that these workers are exposed to a form of labor exploitation that invariably leads to physical and emotional exhaustion and therefore to their decreased labor capacity and useful working life.

通过一项符合人体工程学的方法，本研究旨在评估参与农村地区森林采伐活动的工人是否受到与工作有关的疾病的发展及其后果。对巴西中部地区农村地区的267名林业工人进行了横断面研究。对每个活动（砍伐，爬坡，追踪，手动提取和手动装载）进行了以下评估：生物力学评估；反复劳损/与工作有关的肌肉骨骼疾病的风险；相关的环境噪声和振动因素，以及通过湿球温度指数产生的热过载。结果表明，总体而言，物理工作量非常大，超过心血管负荷极限，增加了工作重组的需要。所有活动都使工人面临脊椎和下肢受伤的严重和迫在眉睫的风险。同样，一般而言，对于所有评估的活动，RSI / WMSD出现的风险非常高。这种结果是由于组织工作因素和工作环境因素的综合作用，例如暴露于恶劣的天气，不平坦的地形，举升和搬运超过可承受极限的负荷，过多的噪音和热过载。所有这些都可以得出结论，农村地区森林采伐中的人体工程学风险和工人健康危害是潜在的，而且令人担忧，