Evaluation of Picker Discomfort and Its Impact on Maintaining Strawberry Picking Quality

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present the relationship between the assumptions of ergonomics in the work of a strawberry picker and quality of picked fruit. The body posture that a person adopts while working has a significant impact on their health, working comfort, and productivity, but also on the quality of the fruit that is harvested. This paper identifies three characteristic picker positions during strawberry harvesting. A synchronized surface electromyography (sEMG) instrument together with the Tekscan® surface pressure measurement system allowed for the determination of the influence of working position on changes in the load of the picker’s musculoskeletal system and the surface pressure exerted on the fruit during manual strawberry picking, which are decisive factors for maintaining fruit quality. In addition, compression tests on whole strawberry fruit were carried out as a benchmark to evaluate and compare the maximum forces as well as the destructive pressures on the fruit. From the tests, we found that the most comfortable position of the worker’s body was determined along with the harvesting technique (position during work) that has the least negative effect on the quality of the harvested fruit. Consequently, the level of dynamic load on the worker was determined.