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Ergonomic Evaluation of Processing Tomato Inspection Stations

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  038024,  2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.15431)
Authors:   Fadi Fathallah and David Reiter, Alan Jones
Keywords:   Ergonomics, processing tomato, musculoskeletal disorders

Processing tomato inspection stations involve certain manual tasks that may potentially expose workers to various risk factors related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the upper extremities and the lower back. The objectives of this study were to quantitatively assess the magnitudes of MSD risk factors throughout the tomato inspection process, and to perform time analysis for the major tasks involved in the testing station. Ten volunteers who worked in five inspections stations throughout northern California participated in this study. Back motions were tracked continuously using a three-dimensional electrogoniometer (the Lumbar Motion Monitor), whereas wrist motions were gathered via a two-dimensional wrist electrogoniometer (Biometrics). Task analysis was performed with the Multimedia Video Task Analysis (MVTA) software. Five major tasks were identified within the inspection job. Percent of time spent in awkward postures and descriptive statistics of motion parameters were obtained. The results identified several areas in the manual tasks where prolonged times were spent in awkward postures, which are considered risk factors for developing MSDs of the wrist and the lower back.. These findings will help guide and prioritize job/task modifications to reduce MSD risk factors and improve job efficiency.

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