Characterizing Repetitive Upper Arm Motions in Apple Harvesting

Details

• Personal Author:
  Aulck L ; Galvin K ; Johnson PW ; Thamsuwan O
• Description:
  The US tree fruit industry has been facing a labour shortage and international price competition. In attempt to respond to these challenges, a harvest-assisting mobile platform was introduced and expected to replace the use of ladders in large industrialized orchards. With the platform semi-autonomously moving along tree rows, workers can continuously pick apples while standing on the platform, without having to climb up and down ladders. One major concern is whether the platform could lead to increased upper-arm repetition, which is one of the risk factors for shoulder pain. Although there are some robust methods for characterizing work repetition in laboratory settings (Speilholtz et al. 2001; Ebaugh et al. 2006; Fuller et al. 2009), methods to measure and characterize repetitive motions in field applications are limited. That is, it is difficult to apply capture motion systems that often require various views in field settings where subjects have to move around. This study aims to develop and evaluate a method using a computational program for characterizing upper-arm repetition from field-collected postural data. Then the method will be used to determine whether there are differences in upper-arm repetition between harvesting apples the conventional ladders and the new technology mobile platforms. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Ergonomics Farmers Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Industry Agricultural Machinery Arm Injuries Exposure Assessment Farm Workers MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Repetitive Work Upper Extremities
• Publisher:
  International Ergonomics Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053366
• Citation:
  The Proceedings of the 19th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA Congress 2015), August 9-14, 2015, Melbourne, Australia. Lindgaard G, Moore D, eds. Madison, WI: International Ergonomics Association, 2015 Aug; :1-4
• Editor(s):
  Lindgaard G; Moore D
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010930
• Source Full Name:
  The Proceedings of the 19th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA Congress 2015), August 9-14, 2015, Melbourne, Australia
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cf4f37766874f70d607555a6cded22a29ae00efbf8798e33930712f500cc3c522dfd7560c34be9ff3c0810adea53150d6dc8a4eff8966a96adab015d4af96194
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216136/cdc_216136_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 80.89 KB ]