Apart from cereal production (rice, wheat, etc.) agricultural labourers are engaged in vegetable
cultivation in West Bengal, India. Potato cultivation is one of the important vegetable cultivation in
India. The potato cultivation tasks are repetitive in nature and those are carried out mainly by manual
efforts. Most of the tasks of potato cultivation are monotonous, strenuous, physiologically demanding as
well as time-consuming. Objective: The present study was aimed to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders
(MSDs) and postural stress among male workers engaged in different potato cultivation jobs. Methods:
The study was conducted on 163 male potato cultivators in different districts of West Bengal state. A
modified Nordic Questionnaire and Body Part Discomfort scale were applied to identify MSDs in different
body parts. The postural pattern was assessed by direct observation method. The postural stress was
analyzed by OWAS, REBA and QEC methods. Result: The results show that the prevalence of MSDs
was very high among the workers and the most affected areas were back and upper extremity. Postural
analysis indicated that the subjects had to adopt different stressful postures during performing different
potato cultivation jobs. During potato harvesting operation the workers were subjected to greater postural
stress than that of other tasks. Conclusion: Postural stress might be the reason of the occurrence of
MSDs. From this study it has been recommended that workers should avoid bad work postures as far as
possible during work for reducing job related health hazards.