Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhaohua, Wang Weijie, Liu Hu, Sun Zhiqun
Pennsylvania State University.
Shandong Agricultural University.
J Agric Saf Health. 2019 Feb 1;25(1):11-24. doi: 10.13031/jash.13103.
. Migrant seasonal workers manually harvest apples throughout the U.S. using ladders and buckets due to the care required for prevention of bruises and other physical damage. The motions associated with hand harvest have potential to cause musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulder, and back/trunk. A prototype harvest platform was developed, aimed at alleviating occupational injuries and increasing harvest productivity by replacing ladders for reaching high apples. This study evaluated the activities of three harvest methods, i.e., conventional harvest (using ladders and buckets), harvest platform (for high apples only), and combined method (conventional harvest for low and middle apples and harvest platform for high apples) using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method performed by trained researchers. Postures/activities with RULA grand scores > 5 were categorized as awkward (causing occupational injuries); otherwise, they were considered comfortable (not leading to health issues). Experimental results demonstrated that awkward activities in conventional harvest were mainly related to the use of ladders. Activities with the harvest platform were comfortable due to the elimination of ladders and buckets. The combined method significantly decreased the workers' time spent in awkward postures (from 64% with conventional harvest to 30% with the combined method) by eliminating awkward activities and increased the overall harvest productivity by approximately 40%. Apple growers and workers are therefore suggested to use the combined method to replace conventional harvest.
在美国，由于防止苹果擦伤和其他物理损伤需要格外小心，季节性流动工人使用梯子和桶手工采摘苹果。手工采摘所涉及的动作有可能导致颈部、肩部和背部/躯干的肌肉骨骼疾病。开发了一种原型采摘平台，旨在通过取代用于采摘高处苹果的梯子来减轻职业伤害并提高采摘效率。本研究使用由经过培训的研究人员执行的快速上肢评估（RULA）方法，评估了三种采摘方法的活动情况，即传统采摘（使用梯子和桶）、采摘平台（仅用于高处苹果）以及组合方法（低处和中部苹果采用传统采摘，高处苹果采用采摘平台）。RULA总分>5的姿势/活动被归类为笨拙（会导致职业伤害）；否则，它们被认为是舒适的（不会导致健康问题）。实验结果表明，传统采摘中的笨拙活动主要与梯子的使用有关。由于无需使用梯子和桶，使用采摘平台的活动是舒适的。组合方法通过消除笨拙活动显著减少了工人处于笨拙姿势的时间（从传统采摘的64%降至组合方法的30%），并使总体采摘效率提高了约40%。因此，建议苹果种植者和工人使用组合方法来取代传统采摘。
