ERGONOMIC EVALUATION OF LAWN MOWER OPERATION FOR COMFORT IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

In this study a favorable relationship between Lawn mower, environment and the operator’s comfort is examined. An anthropometric survey was conducted to determine the anthropometric data in order to reduce stresses of the lawn mower operators in Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve this, measurements of randomly selected 10 mower operators within ages of 21 to 45 including students both males and females were taken and the parameters were analyzed. The results of the 5th and 9th percentile were discussed. The average age of operator was 38 years, body weight was 67 kg, functional leg height was 846 mm, Arm reach length was 558 mm and Chest expansion was 380 mm. The average comfort rating from 10 points scales for 5th and 95th percentile were 8.3 and 9.1 respectively for comfortable operations. These values when strictly adhered to by the designer will ensure comfort ability and reduce physical stress of lawn mower operators