The main objective of this study was to evaluate the physical work load and the biomechanical analysis of 20 workers at the wood carbonization in hot tail charcoal kilns, located in the North of the Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Cardiac frequency was analyzed using the Polar Eletro Oy system from Finland. The time required by the workers per activity was evaluated through the individual chronometry method and the biomechanical analysis was carried out by a software developed by the Michigan University. The results showed that the cardiovascular load required was of 44.5%, which was classified to be moderately heavy. The most time consuming activity was the sealing of the kiln. There is a compression risk of the L5 - S1 vertebral disk for the kiln loading labor, during the steps basket lifting and log removal.
Ergonomics; cardiac frequency; injury
