This ergonomics field study will involve multiple agricultural community interests as partners in planning, conducting and evaluating field research and in disseminating results. The project's goals are to significantly reduce or eliminate identified ergonomic risk factors, reduce associated negative health outcomes, and improve community partners capacity to understand and use ergonomics methods to address hazards in hand harvest of treefruit crops and ergonomics risk factors. These risk factors are: ladder use and safety, manual handling of awkward and heavy loads, and highly repetitive hand removal of fruit. Target beneficiaries are farm workers, an underserved population cited as a Special Target Population in the National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives and in the NORA guidelines. Project Specific Aims are to: 1) To scientifically document and describe ergonomics risk factors involved in hand harvest of treefruit, we will: a) develop detailed ergonomics job descriptions of hand harvest in 12 commodities; b) utilize biomechanical, metabolic, and postural stress measures to describe ladder use, manual load handling, and repetitive picking in detail; c) assess the incidence and types of injuries associated with hand harvest risk factors. 2) To develop and evaluate field practical applications of known controls that eliminate or significantly reduce targeted hand harvest risk factors, we will: a) share proven concepts with cooperating workers, growers, contractors, safety practitioners, and interest groups making up the treefruit community; b) modify effective intervention applications to ensure field practicability; c) conduct cooperative controlled field trials of cooperatively selected intervention applications; d) statistically compare individual intervention and control conditions. 3) Because interventions are often combined in the workplace, we will scientifically test the impact of selected interventions combined together on targeted hand harvest risk factors by: a) conducting cooperative hand harvest intervention trials with treefruit production partners; b) statistically comparing combined intervention conditions and control conditions in terms of ergonomics, injury symptoms, and productivity measures. 4) To improve community-based understanding of ergonomics methods and improve intervention practices in hand harvest of treefruit, we will: a) provide training and workplace experience with ergonomics methods to cooperating partners; b) provide community ergonomics information and training; c) assess perceived adoptability of interventions; d) communicate project findings to treefruit and other agricultural industry groups, to workers and community interest groups, and other safety and injury researchers.
