Impacts of introducing a new tool for the manual harvesting of sugar cane: The ergonomic analysis contribution

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of introduction a new work toolon health and productivity of manual harvesting sugarcane workers. In this study it was performed aErgonomic Work Analysis (EWA) to analyze the work tool changes.The study includedsugarcane workers, drivers, fiscals, and technical's safety at work.During the analysis process, 134 questionnaires were applied,aimedto identify the constraints that such workers are submitted,to evaluate the tool introduced, in order to propose modifications to improve it.The results showeda decrease in perceived exertion and discomfort, without compromising the cut quality. The main contributionsofErgonomic Work Analysis were thepossibility of bringing the logic of the worker,in order to understand the inherent real work characteristics,to the process of developing the new tool. Besides, it was also noted that this methodology, based on the analysis workers activity in a real usage,as an application tool in design projects, providing innovations from the workers perspective. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.