An ergonomic approach for designing indian traditional vegetable cutter

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In India varieties of hand tools have been used to cut the vegetables. Traditional vegetable cutter is a commonly used hand tool which has been used for years in the kitchen. The tool may have some design related problems. The present study was undertaken to reduce those problems. OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to evaluate a new design of traditional vegetable cutters for use in the Indian kitchen. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and fifty Indian women who regularly used a vegetable cutter for cooking purposes participated in this study. METHODS: The design of the vegetable cutter was modified based on the postural preference of the users and other anthropometric factors including the blade angle, length, breadth and width of the sitting area. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was assessed by means of a questionnaire for subjects' feedback. New concepts of the design were proposed and a few prototypes were made and were tested by paired comparison using the EMG system. RESULTS: A large number of subjects (61%) used the vegetable cutter while sitting on the floor with folded knees and the prevalence of MSD in most of the body parts was comparatively lower in this posture than that in squatting posture. In the new design, a broad platform was suggested to provide a more comfortable sitting when a subject sits on it with folded knees. For the vegetable cutter, the blade angle was made at 120 • with a broad folded wooden base as the final prototype of the cutter. The length, breadth, and thickness of the base were selected based on the results of the anthropometric measurements among the prototypes of the cutters. The selected vegetable cutter showed the least myoelectric activity among the prototypes during cutting vegetables. CONCLUSION: The modified vegetable cutter appeared to be ergonomically effective, less prone to muscular stress, and compatible for preferred posture of the users.

Risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in manual harvesting farmers of Rajasthan

“…It was also revealed that age was associated with pain in upper back, wrists/hands, fingers and elbows/forearms. It is observed that as a result of upgrading the activity (especially cutting and weeding) by designing new interventions may help for preventing MSDs among farmers in the near future 15 ) . The results dictates for the need to consider other physical and psychosocial factors of manual harvesting farmers.…”

“…MSDs, particularly in the trunk, shoulders, and hands/wrists are progressively frequent in Asian producers 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ) . In India, various studies 10 , 11 , 12 , 15 ) have reported MSDs in farmers and work related upper limb disorders occurrence rates for farmers reported at about 63–98%. To date there is limited study available on the prevalence of MSDs and their contributing risk factors for manual harvesting farmers.…”

Application of AULA Risk Assessment Tool by Comparison with Other Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tools

“…The aging of the rural regions and the decrease in the farming population per household has led to a severe reduction in the labor force and an increase in labor intensity, causing serious WMSDs problems for farmworkers [ 4 , 5 ]. The prevalence of WMSDs, particularly in the trunk, shoulder, and hand/wrist, is very high in Asian farmers [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. The prevalence (61.5%) of WMSDs among farmworkers, forestry workers, and fishers was 2.5 times higher than that (25.1%) of workers in other fields [ 10 ].…”