Assessment of Hanging Type Grain Cleaner Drudgery Reducing Tool by Farm Women

The study was undertaken to assess ergonomically efficiency of hanging type wheat graincleaner, carried out in adopted villages under On Farm Testing (OFT) and Front LineDemonstration (FLD) program conducted by KVK, Mandsaur (M.P.). Total Fifteen farmwomen were selected to assess the physiological workload to compare the impact ofimproved technology over conventional practice for hanging type grain cleaner. Physiologicalparameters i.e. HR, energy expenditure, cardiac cost reduction and physiological costreduction etc., were measured during operations. The results revealed that hanging typegrain cleaner has proved proficient on time and output parameters. The average cardiaccost of work was decreased by 82.29 per cent while using hanging type grain cleaner forwheat. Drudgery reduction was found 83.96 per cent and it saved time by 89.10 per centwhen compared to traditional practice. The physiological cost of work and energyexpenditure in terms of heart rate were observed to be lower while performing activitieswith hanging type grain cleaner as compared to the traditional practice.

Pace Controlled by a Steady-State Physiological Variable Is Associated with Better Performance in a 3000 M Run

This paper aims to test the hypothesis whereby freely chosen running pace is less effective than pace controlled by a steady-state physiological variable. Methods Eight runners performed four maximum-effort 3000 m time trials on a running track. The first time trial (TT1) was freely paced. In the following 3000 m time trials, the pace was controlled so that the average speed (TT2), average V˙O2 (TT3) or average HR (TT4) recorded in TT1 was maintained throughout the time trial. Results: Physiologically controlled pace was associated with a faster time (mean ± standard deviation: 740 ± 34 s for TT3 and 748 ± 33 s for TT4, vs. 854 ± 53 s for TT1; p < 0.01), a lower oxygen cost of running (200 ± 5 and 220 ± 3 vs. 310 ± 5 mLO2·kg−1·km−1, respectively; p < 0.02), a lower cardiac cost (0.69 ± 0.08 and 0.69 ± 0.04 vs. 0.86 ± 0.09 beat·m−1, respectively; p < 0.01), and a more positively skewed speed distribution (skewness: 1.7 ± 0.9 and 1.3 ± 0.6 vs. 0.2 ± 0.4, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Physiologically controlled pace (at the average V˙O2 or HR recorded in a freely paced run) was associated with a faster time, a more favorable speed distribution and lower levels of physiological strain, relative to freely chosen pace. This finding suggests that non-elite runners do not spontaneously choose the best pace strategy.

Drudgery reduction in operation of cleaner-cum-grader: An ergonomic intervention

A pedal-operated cleaner-cum-grader having common bicycle chain-sprocket mechanism to get the speeds of 240 and 720 rpm of eccentric shaft and blower shaft, respectively for the desired cleaning/grading of grains was developed earlier by CIAE, Bhopal. Also, in order to utilize the human energy in more efficient way through pedalling mode, CIAE has recently developed a dynapod. The dynapod is a pedal operated rotary device, which can be used as an interface between human worker and any rotary-type machine. The developed dynapod was used to operate the cleaner-cum-grader to assess the drudgery reduction in its operation in comparison to original pedalling mechanism. The dynapod was interfaced with the cleaner-cum-grader by carrying out minor modifications in the original unit. Eight male agricultural workers with mean stature and weight as 168.4 cm and 54.4 kg, respectively participated in the study. The cleaner-cum-grader was used for cleaning and grading of soybean grains. Heart rate of the workers was measured during operation of cleaner-cum-grader using the dynapod as well as the original pedalling mechanism. Mean working heart rate during operation of machine with original pedalling mechanism was 114 beats min-1 as against 108 beats min-1 in case of pedalling with dynapod. The work pulse (ÄHR) with the original pedalling mechanism was 35 beats min-1 as against 29 beats min-1 during pedalling with dynapod. The output capacity of the machine increased from 303 kg h-1 in case of original pedalling mechanism to 345 kg h-1 with dynapod. Considering the cardiac cost as well as output of the machine, the drudgery reduction by using dynapod with cleaner-cum-grader was about 25.4% as compared to the original pedalling mechanism.

Ergonomic Evaluation of Women Farm Workers Using Different Manual Weeding Tools in Maize Crop of Udaipur District

Women play a major and crucial role in doing the agricultural operations. The women workers in Udaipur district mostly uses sickle and kudali for doing weeding operations. This study was conducted in 2019-20 at instructional Farm, CTAE, Udaipur with women farm workers during the manual weeding operation by using different traditional tools like hand hoe (kudali) along with technically and ergonomically designed wheel hand hoe. The main objective of the study was to investigate the most drudgery prone tool and to recommend the proper tool for doing weeding operations in maize crop. Use of proper tools not only reduce the drudgery but also improves the operating efficiency along with the comfort, besides improving the productivity of the women farm workers in doing the operation. In view of this, an effort has been made to assess the physical and physiological parameters of women farm workers who are using traditional farm tools along with the improved tools for doing weeding operation in maize crop. The whole study was conducted on ten female farm workers identified from the population of workers in the age group of 18 to 45 years. During the experiment, physiological workload i.e., heart rate, oxygen consumption rate, energy expenditure rate and physical workload i.e., overall discomfort rate, rate of perceived exertion and Musculo-skeletal problems were measured. The Pratap wheel hand hoe saves nearly 36% of the cardiac cost of the worker per unit of output and wheel hand hoe saves nearly 38% of the cardiac cost of the worker per unit of output which is nothing but reduction in drudgery by 36% and 38% by both the weeding tools over kudali. Area covered with Pratap wheel hand hoe and wheel hand hoe were 1.70 and 1.69 times more over kudali.

Identification of physically fatiguing tasks performed during aircraft open-basket ground de-icing activities

BACKGROUND: Airplane de-icing technicians work from either an open-basket or closed-basket. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to identify the tasks that have an influence on the physical fatigue of open-basket aircraft de-icing technicians. METHODS: In a Canadian airport during the winter of 2016–2017, a field study was conducted in which the heart rate of 12 volunteer participants was collected. The data was analyzed along with the 22 tasks that make up the activity of open-basket aircraft de-icing. For each participant, the mean absolute cardiac cost per task was compared. The evolution of the cardiac signal based on the resting heart rate and steady state limit was also characterized. RESULTS: According to the cumulative results fatigue occurs for periodic tasks as well as double tasks. More precisely, the most physically fatiguing tasks are spraying de-icing and anti-icing fluids, moving the basket and truck, as well as tactile control and de-icing quality control at ground level. CONCLUSIONS: Similar studies would need to be conducted in other aircraft de-icing facilities to improve the generalization of the results.

Ergonomic Evaluation of Hand Operated Maize Sheller for Reducing Drudgery of Farm Women in Bihar

Maize shelling is one of the tedious and time-consuming agricultural operations. To reduce the drudgery of farm women involved in maize shelling, a hand-held octagonal maize sheller (OMS) tool was introduced. The OMS tool was evaluated for its impact on human health and shelling efficiency. An ergonomic study of the OMS tool was carried out with farm women as subjects for evaluation. Various ergonomic and technical performance parameters were assessed for two types of shelling viz. hand shelling and shelling using OMS tool. The results revealed that the OMS tool and hand shelling recorded an output of 23.71 and 8.87 kg/h, respectively. The cardiac cost per unit of output worked out was 69.73 and 287.09 beats/kg for OMS tool and hand shelling, respectively. Compared to hand shelling, the OMS tool reduced drudgery by 75.71%. Overall discomfort rating was 1.58 and 2.12 while the body part discomfort score was 21.27 and 30.41 for OMS tool and hand shelling, respectively. Adoption of OMS tool reduced the physical stress as very small percentage of subjects (less than 40%) reported about the body pain. In view of increased shelling efficiency and reduced physical pain, the OMS tool was found more suitable and is recommended for maize shelling.

Heat Stress and Cardiac Strain in French Vineyard Workers

Agricultural workers often produce considerable excess heat due to the physically demanding nature of their activities, increasing their risk of thermal stress in even moderately warm conditions. Few studies have examined the physiological responses to heat load in agriculture. We aimed to assess the heat strain experienced by vineyard workers during canopy management in dry field conditions, and to disentangle the effects of the heat produced by the body and the thermal environment. Thirty workers from five Bordeaux vineyards of southern France were monitored during vine-lifting and trellising (June 2012). The mean heart rate, net cardiac cost, relative cardiac cost, and cardiac workload score were assessed during field activity. As the workers were nested within vineyards, multilevel linear regression models were used for correct inference. Skin temperature increased by an average of 1.0°C. Cardiac indices showed marked differences between individuals. The workload was evaluated as ‘heavy’ or ‘very heavy’ for more than one-third of the workers, of whom one experienced heat exhaustion. Above some individual characteristics, we highlighted a contextual effect (air temperature) for the mean heart rate (P = 0.03), the relative cardiac cost (P = 0.01) and, to a lesser extent, a cardiac workload score (P = 0.07). Canopy management by hand in vineyards causes considerable cardiac and thermoregulatory strain. Appropriate instruments should be developed to simultaneously evaluate work intensity, work quality, and productivity at the vineyard level to raise the awareness of both managers and employees about taking preventive measures.

Comparison of different Parameters of Heart Rate Frequency of Tasks Performed during Aircraft Open-Basket Ground Deicing Activities

Plane deicing is mandatory to insure safe plane take-off. Previous human factors studies have shown that open-basket deicing activity can be improved. The objective of the paper is to compare heart rate assessment models within a field study with numerous influencing variables and small sample size as well as to deepen our understanding of the most demanding openbasket tasks using cardiac output. A field study in a Canadian centered plane deicing facility was conducted in 2016-2017. 12 participants contributed to a thorough description and analysis of open-basket deicing activities. Respiratory and cardiac output of these participants was collected using Hexoskin vests. Working heart rate, heart rate reserves as well as calculations of absolute cardiac cost were done. Working heart rate (WHR), Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) and Absolute Cardiac Cost (ACC) do not behave uniformly for the majority of participants. In field studies with a large number of influencing variables on the heart rate, it is usually not sufficient to consider one single evaluation measure like WHR. In the interest of protecting employees, it seems to make sense to use the more cautious measures HRR or ACC as parameters instead of WHR. Superimposed activities (e.g. forced postures and dynamic use of upper body) have a significant effect on heart rate increases. In 8 out of 11 cases we have fatigue-related increases in heart rate over the observation period. Similar studies need to be conducted in other aircraft deicing facilities.

Parametric Investigation and Optimization of the Newly Developed Pant Loading Ramp Machine

Objective of the current study was to optimize newly developed pant loading ramp to perform manual handling task. Pant loading ramp was 19 feet in length, having width of 2 feet, anti-slippery, easy to move due to provision of rotating wheels, adjustable at varying heights of the loading vehicle (between 2.5-5 feet) and reduces the loading time up to 30 minutes. For this purpose experiments were conducted on a group of 20 experienced manual handlers in rice mills of Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand, India. The reliability and validity of the developed, loading ramp was assessed by using response surface methodology in terms of change in energy expenditure (EE), rate of perceived exertion (RPE), total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) and grip strength (GS). Therefore Response Surface Methodology (statistical tools to determine the significance of a factor over a response or collection of mathematical and statistical techniques for empirical model building) was applied to optimize the operating parameters of ramp such as load weight, height of ramp and time. As per Box Behenken design total 17 experiments were carried out each of which varied over three levels as load weight (40, 50 and 60 kg.), height of ramp (3, 4 and 5 feet), and time (3, 4 and 5 min.). ANOVA and coefficient of determination (R2) test were applied. In result it was observed that use of pant loading ramp was able to reduce Energy Expenditure (EE) of respondents’ from 14.55 kJ/min. to 11.41 kJ/min., Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) from 85.45 to 20%, Total Cardiac Cost of Work (TCCW) from 996.3 to 564.36 beats and Grip Strength (GS) from 47.45 to 3.30% with overall desirability of 0.84%. In comparison with traditional method it was also found to reduce Average Working heart Rate (AWHR) (14.55-11.41), Peak Energy Expenditure (PEE) (16-12), Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) (85.45-20), Grip Strength (GS) (47.45-3.30) and Total Cardiac Cost of Work (TCCW) (996.3-564.35). Relative advantages showed that more than 95% users were highly satisfied and found it advantageous.

Assessing the Level of Physical Activity in the Workplace

Occupational hygiene requires evaluation of different risk sources in the workplace. The level of physical workload may create stress, fatigue and injuries. Therefore, activity monitoring provides valuable information for companies in assessing and solving possible hazards in the workplace. The article presents a system using wearable technology to monitor and evaluate physical workload with in situ measurements. The system uses a smartwatch and a mobile application for Android phones. During workload monitoring, the application displays physiologic variables such as heart rate, calories, body temperature, galvanic skin response and number of steps. Additionally, the system computes absolute and relative cardiac cost, and Frimat coefficients. Tests were performed on 10 individuals from a janitor staff (5 men and 5 women), monitoring every task during their most demanding hour. Results agree with the type of activity developed in different intervals, showing light and very light workload for different tasks in all workers.