Ergonomic Evaluation of Mobile Work Platform Technology in Washington State Orchards Kit Galvin, Peter Johnson, Patrik Renyll, Richard A. Fenske 2011 National Symposium on Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Health & Safety 29 June 2011 Boise, ID
Cooperating orchards Agricultural workers Research team Maria Tchong-French Maria Negrete Pablo Palmández Anna Fretheim Contributers
Northwest Tree Fruit Industry Activities require: high level of manual labor use of ladders Labor is the greatest production cost
Northwest Tree Fruit Industry Technology Roadmap decrease production costs increase orchard productivity Major changes in tree fruit production orchard architecture assistive technologies Minimize the health and safety impact Photo of fruiting wall
Goals Evaluate ergonomic stressors Tasks pruning green fruit thinning Equipment ladders self-propelled mobile platforms Recommendations for best practices
Pruning
Green Fruit Thinning
Exertion Heart rate Borg RPE
Example: pruner HR Time Heart Rate bpm
Upper Body Borg Crt10 scale Inclinometer
Next Steps Complete data analysis Validate Borg RPE and Borg CRT10 for hispanic men and women Evaluate vacuum harvesting platform