Citation

Thamsuwan O, Galvin K, Tchong-French M, Kim JH, Johnson PW. J. Agromed. 2019; 24(3): 268-278.

Affiliation

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health , University of Washington , Seattle WA , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1059924X.2019.1593273

PMID

30880611

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Although mobile orchard platforms have been developed to improve apple harvesting productivity in the United States, the physical exposures of workers using the mobile platforms have not been well characterized, partly due to the lack of assessment tools specific to the tree fruit orchard environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and utility of different subjective and objective methods for characterizing apple harvesting workers' posture, arm repetition, heart rate, and perceived exertion during platform- and conventional ladder-based harvesting.

METHODS: During a regular full shift work (8 hours), the objective physical exposure measures (arm elevation, torso inclination, and heart rate) of six platform, six ground, and eight ladder workers were measured with tri-axial accelerometers and heart rate monitor; subjective perceived exertion was collected using standardized Borg RPE and CR-10 scales, translated into Spanish.

RESULTS: The results showed that the arm elevation, torso forward bending, repetitiveness, heart rates, and perceived exertions were lower for the platform-based workers than for the ladder-based workers. The subjective measures (Borg RPE and Borg CR-10) appeared to be similar and mirror the general trends of the objective heart rate and posture measures.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate the potential benefit of these low-cost subjective measures when direct measurements are too costly, complicated, or not permitted. This study determined that field measurements of objective and subjective physical exposures were feasible for evaluating apple harvesting work. In summary, all the methods used appear to be feasible for field use in orchard-based environments.

Language: en

Keywords

Borg CR-10; Borg RPE; heart rate; inclinometry; posture