Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Appl Ergon. 2020 Nov;89:103192. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103192. Epub 2020 Jul 29.
Farmworkers are exposed to physical risk factors including repetitive motions. Existing ergonomic assessment methods are primarily laboratory-based and, thus, inappropriate for use in the field. This study presents an approach to characterize the repetitive motions of the upper arms based on direct measurement using accelerometers. Repetition rates were derived from upper arm inclination data and with video recordings in the field. This method was used to investigate whether harvesting with mobile platforms (teams harvesting apples from the platform and the ground) increased the farmworkers' exposure to upper arm repetitive motions compared to traditional harvesting using ladders. The ladder workers had higher repetitive motions (13.7 cycles per minute) compared to the platform and ground workers (11.7 and 12.2 cycles per minutes). The higher repetitions in the ladder workers were likely due to their ability to work independently and the additional arm movements associated with ladder climbing and walking.
农民工人面临物理风险因素，包括重复性动作。现有的人体工程学评估方法主要基于实验室，因此不适合在现场使用。本研究提出了一种基于加速度计直接测量的方法来描述上臂的重复性动作。通过在现场使用视频记录，从上臂倾斜数据中得出重复率。该方法用于研究与传统使用梯子相比，使用移动平台（从平台和地面上采摘苹果的团队）是否会增加农民工人对上臂重复性动作的暴露。梯子工人的重复性动作（每分钟 13.7 次）高于平台和地面工人（每分钟 11.7 次和 12.2 次）。梯子工人的高重复性动作可能是由于他们能够独立工作，以及与梯子攀爬和行走相关的额外手臂动作所致。
