| Description |
Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous of occupations. It is second only to the mining and quarrying industrial sector. A large proportion of these injuries are associated with slips, trips, and falls among tractor operators while mounting/dismounting the tractors. This thesis is aimed at summarizing the results from a survey that was designed to investigate fall-related injuries and events and the compliance of late model tractors with published design recommendations for ingress/egress systems. An electronic survey, reviewed by the Institutional Review Board of University of Utah, was developed and administered to the tractor operators to investigate musculoskeletal pain, tractor usage patterns, tractor cab comfort and design, and to assess tractor ingress/egress systems to provide information in an effort to establish design guidelines for ingress/egress based on biomechanical and anthropometric considerations. The survey responses were all analyzed using the statistical software JMP 7. Additionally, a field study was conducted at two production sites in Idaho with 15 tractor operators and 5 different tractors. All the tractors were compared to SAE J-185 standards. Furthermore, 3D motion tracking of body movements during mounting/dismounting the tractor was recorded using ViconMotus™. General observations like the number of people facing the cab/facing away from the cab, maintaining 3-point contact while mounting/dismounting the cab are discussed. |
