Ergonomic Evaluation of Paddy Harvester and Thresher with Farm Women

In India, nearly 50-60 per cent of women work force is engaged in agriculture. Systematic efforts to evaluate the energy expenditure of female labourers are generally non-existent in this region. The physiological response of women labourers while performing the rice farming operations such as harvesting with sickle, harvesting with self propelled harvester, threshing by hand and threshing with mini thresher at different time intervals i. e. , before 9 am and after 11 am in a day were investigated. Psychophysical measurement technique was used to quantify the overall discomfort as well as body part discomfort. Nine subjects conforming to the statistical requirements of anthropometric dimensions were selected for the study. The maximum energy cost was observed to be 20.58 kJ min-1 for harvesting with sickle, whereas for harvesting with self propelled harvester, this value was observed to be 17.93 kJ min-1. Harvesting after 11 am resulted in 18 % more energy expenditure than harvesting before 9 am. The energy cost was observed to be 15.53 kJ min-1 for threshing with Mini Thresher, whereas for manual threshing this value was 21.55 kJ min-1. All the operations were generally graded as Moderately Heavy. The oxygen uptake in terms of VO2 max was above the acceptable work load for all selected operations. Mean overall discomfort rating on a 10 point visual analogue discomfort scale ( 0- no discomfort, 10- extreme discomfort) was 6.6 and scaled as moderate discomfort for harvesting with self propelled harvester whereas the rating was 8 and scaled as more than moderate discomfort for manual harvesting. Similarly, the rating was 6.3 and scaled as moderate discomfort for threshing with Mini Thresher while the rating was 8.5 and scaled as more than moderate discomfort for manual threshing. Arms and shoulder regions were concerned areas of discomfort for machine operation, whereas for manual operation, back, buttocks, thighs and legs were the concerned regions of discomfort.