Evaluation of hand-arm vibrations during the use of portable olives harvesters

Abstract

The use of portable shakers in olives harvesting is becoming increasingly, especially in Sicily, both to reduce the costs of production and to assure the oil quality. Nevertheless, it’s well known that the use of such tools may involve risk of exposure to hand-transmitted vibration. Such exposure to vibrations is a potential cause of muscular/skeletal pains in hand–arm system, and specific pathologies such as Vibration-Induced White Finger (VWF) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), Hand–Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). The aim of this study was to assess the level of exposure to hand-arm vibration of the operators during the use of portable shakers for olives harvesting. Two different commonly used types of machineries were evaluated performing both laboratory and field tests. The first one was the portable shaker mod. Cifarelli SC800, provided with an internal combustion engine, consisting of a bar ending with a hook which transmits the vibrations induced by the machine to the branch. The second one was the electric portable shaker mod. Pellenc Olivion P230, consisting of a bar ending with some teeth representing the harvesting head. Accelerations were measured by using the portable vibrometer HD2070 (Delta OHM, Italy). The daily action value established by the European Directive 2002/44/EC (5.0 m/s2) was exceeded by the two shakers for both hands both in the laboratory and in the filed tests.The shaker which reported the lowest levels of acceleration is the electric comb by Pellenc (shaker B) with A(8) values of about half compared to the hook type (shaker A).