The research in Ergonomics is focused mainly on five areas: (1) Epidemiology, (2) Clinical investigations, (3) Workplace studies (4) Method development and (5) Technical improvements.

Epidemiology

Epidemiological studies indicate that farming is a high-risk occupation with regard to musculoskeletal disorders. Work-related problems in farmers and in others working in the “green sector” have therefore been an important research field at the Division of Work Science.
A large amount of information about musculoskeletal problems has been collected from both cross-sectional and follow-up surveys and forms an extensive base of  reference data spread over different work categories in agriculture and over a wide age range. Both male and female workers in branches such as animal production (both milk and pig producers), gardening, and riding instructors are represented in the reference material. 

Clinical investigations

Clinical investigations of females working with machine milking have been performed in order to make musculoskeletal diagnoses. In that respect, high prevalence of hand and wrist symptoms nerv entrapments (pronator syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome) has been found.

Workplace studies

In order to identify risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorders when working in agriculture several studies with different type of measurements have been conducted at the Division of Work Science.
The studies are mainly aimed to quantify the physical exposure consisting work postures, workload, positions and movements. Observational methods are used to analyse working postures, electromyographic (EMG) and biomechanics for quantifying the workload and electro goniometry for measuring positions and movements.
The results from the observational studies shows that farming consists of work operations that often involve awkward working postures, which are risk factors for back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders.
Both high static and peak muscular load values for the biceps and flexor muscles have been measured in various operations during machine milking. The extreme positions and movements of the hand and wrist that also have been found might contribute to the development of injuries among milkers.

Method development

It is important to develop simple methods for early identification and quantification of the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in agricultural work. Such development is on-going at the Division of Work Science regarding the improvement of observational methods using computer vision and image analysis. So far, the registering of the exposure data has been performed separately due to methodological limitations. Methods that can combine analyses of physical exposure variables together with video registering are under development.

Technical improvements

New technical appliances have been developed in cooperation with the industry (DeLaval International AB) and technical high schools (such as Lund Technical High School and Halmstad High School). Their function has been tested from an ergonomic point of view. Furthermore, evaluations of the impact on the workload with different types of equipments (such as milk tubes and milking clusters) have been conducted.
An example of an appliance that has been developed and constructed is the so-called “supporter arm”. This appliance can be described as an adaptation of technological investigations to the human, being and complies with requirements of the International Ergonomic Association (IEA).

Contact

Department of Agricultural Biosystems and Technology
Division of Work Science
Alnarp, Sweden
Contact: Dr. Marianne Stål
E-mail: Marianne.Stal@jbt.slu.se

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