Ergononmics in agriculture

Fadi Fathallah, University of California Agricultural Ergonomics Research Center, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA

In many agricultural commodities, farm work has not changed over the years and still requires heavy and fatiguing physical labor resulting in a variety of reported musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The annual workers’ compensation costs for the more than 3,000 back injuries that happen each year in California agriculture may be over $22 million.

This presentation will demonstrate a variety of simple and complex interventions developed by our research group over the past decade to help reduce the prevalence of MSDs among agricultural workers in the wine grape, plant nursery, and fresh produce (e.g. strawberry) industries. The presentation will also include data from laboratory and field studies that will indicate the potential effectiveness of the interventions. It is hoped that these interventions will be widely implemented in their respective industries, and that other industries may adopt and modify the approaches presented to fit their specific situations.

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