Ergonomics Partnership to Address Treefruit Worker Injury: Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Hand-Harvested Treefruit Crops

Details

• Personal Author:
  Elkins R ; Fathallah F ; Faucett J ; Janowitz I ; Meyers JM ; Miles JA
• Description:
  The Ergonomics Partnership to Prevent Treefruit Injury Project of the University of California was funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Continuing Agreement U01OH008091 under the Community Partners for Healthy Farming program. The project's proposed specific aims were to: 1) To scientifically document and describe ergonomics risk factors involved in hand harvest of treefruit. 2) To develop and evaluate field practical applications of known controls that eliminate or significantly reduce targeted hand harvest risk factors. 3) To scientifically test the impact of selected interventions combined together on targeted hand harvest risk factors. 4) To improve community-based understanding of ergonomics methods and improve intervention practices in hand harvest of treefruit. All but one of the project's specific aims were successfully achieved. The project described the ergonomics risk factors associated with hand harvest of 10 different crops then focused intervention efforts on three specific crops with high priority exposures: Pomes-pears, Citrus-lemon, and Stone Fruit-peaches. As a result of analysis of ergonomics risk factors associated with these jobs and information provided by both cooperating workers' compensation insurers and cooperating treefruit employers, the project was focused on hazards of ladder design and use and manual handling of awkward and heavy loads. The hazards of highly repetitive hand picking is of equal concern, but no tools offering alternative practices were identified or accepted as satisfactory by cooperating growers and workers. Ten growers and nearly 1400 workers directly participated in at least one phase of the project as hand harvest job descriptions were developed for ten different treefruit crops. These growers and their workers were provided information on MSDs, their causes and symptoms, and strategies for their prevention. Cooperative trials were conducted of: A) smaller picking bags in lemon harvest, B) powered harvest platform in pear harvest, and C) use of ladders with alternate step spacing and design in peach harvest. All of these interventions were well accepted by workers and growers participating, and all demonstrated reduction in targeted risk factor exposures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Ergonomics Farmers Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Processes Agricultural Safety Farm Workers Injury Prevention Ladders MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Risk Factors
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-45
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056222
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-101122
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U01-OH-008091, 2010 Jan; :1-45
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Davis
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20030930
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20080929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:059f2361ca849446a9173a9f62af0195c2e485e66cc7b465d2f7aad77734a01b0e8aae0de391fccc5b0305e66edc5ee14b620a4aa46c81bfd13752c5a17dc980
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218883/cdc_218883_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.07 MB ]