Ergonomic analysis of grapevine pruning and wine harvesting to define work and hand tools design requirements

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wakula, Jurij^{; *} | Beckmann, Thomas | Hett, Michael | Landau, Kurt

Affiliations: Institute of Ergonomics, Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Jurij Wakula, Institute of Ergonomics, Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany. E-mail: wakula@iad.tu-darmstadt.de.

Abstract: Knowledge of the stress-strain analysis while grapevines pruning and wine harvesting in vineyards will make a significant contribution towards reducing the risk of cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) in the upper limbs of vineyard workers. The stress-strain analysis in field and laboratory studies show that pruning grapevines and wine harvesting involves a combination of dynamic and sensorimotoric work, and also a high incidence of ergonomically undesirable postures of the trunk, the upper limbs and the head irrespective of cutting tools used. The information obtained can be applied in the ergonomic redesign of pruning tasks and pruning tools to reduce incidence of trauma.

Keywords: pruning grapevines, wine harvesting, stress-strain analysis, pruning hand tools, CTD

DOI: 10.3233/OER-2000-2303

Journal: Occupational Ergonomics, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 151-161, 2000