Improving Tractor Safety: A Comparison between the Usability of a Conventional and Enhanced Rear-Mounted Foldable ROPS (FROPS)

Abstract

Tractor rollover is the main cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries in agriculture. The foldable rollover protective structure (FROPS) can help to prevent these injuries. However, in many cases, the FROPS is left in a folded-down position. Human factor and rear-mounted FROPS technical characteristics influence operators’ behavior in roll-bar handling. To improve the FROPS’s comfortable use, the prototype of an enhanced handling system was developed, and its usability was tested and compared with a conventional FROPS. Usability was assessed with 93 novice tractor users through an ad hoc questionnaire (investigating perceived effort, time demand, the posture adopted and satisfaction) and observations (investigating effectiveness and efficiency) during lowering and raising tasks. For both tasks, the participants perceived significantly less effort, less physical discomfort, a higher level of satisfaction and less time demand while operating the enhanced FROPS. Observations showed that the critical issues that emerged for the conventional FROPS were eliminated by adopting the developed and implemented handling system. The developed handling system showed itself to be usable and effective in making the FROPS easier and safer to be operated.

Development of a New Procedure for Evaluating Working Postures: An Application in a Manufacturing Company

“…The output of these data is in line with recent studies in the field of machinery saf and ergonomics [6], which indicate that most injury-causing events are associated w working tasks' management and technical safety measures [7][8][9][10]. As stressed by differ authors [11,12], when developing a product or work equipment, engineers hardly ta into account the final user's perspective by including the feedback of the users' experien in design activities. Such a lack has the potential to reduce the product/machinery qual and its safety during usage [13,14].…”

“…Other approaches are those promoted by public bodies, such as, for example, Physical Demand Assessment (PDA) tool [28], which consists of a procedure aimed gathering data related to the physical demands of a certain working task in specific ar of the human body, based on the identification of ergonomic risks in the plan The output of these data is in line with recent studies in the field of machinery safety and ergonomics [6], which indicate that most injury-causing events are associated with working tasks' management and technical safety measures [7][8][9][10]. As stressed by different authors [11,12], when developing a product or work equipment, engineers hardly take into account the final user's perspective by including the feedback of the users' experience in design activities. Such a lack has the potential to reduce the product/machinery quality and its safety during usage [13,14].…”

A Solution to Prevent and Minimize the Consequences of Accidents with Farm Tractors in the Context of Mountainous Regions with Low Population Density

“…Additionally, although ROPS performance standards are considered appropriate, it is not totally effective in eliminating rollovers. Regardless of the improvements in the design of this type of mechanism, where physical differences exist in the agricultural population have been considered (e.g., gender, height, strength, and joint mobility) [ 22 ], the number of accidents with farm tractors is still high. In addition, this type of mechanism does not prevent accidents but acts as a protection measure in the case of an accident, contributing to minimizing the consequences.…”