Hand-held Olive Beaters: Analysis of the Upper Limb Disorders and Hand-arm Vibration Risks

Many agricultural workers are exposed both to upper limb muscle-skeletal disorder (ULMSD) and hand-arm vibration (HAV) risks. These risks have been investigated since many years, especially after the law provided to prevent the hand-arm vibration and the ULMSD risks in the workplace (the European Directive 2002/44 and the ISO 11228-3. 2007). These risks are unfortunately evaluated separately. This work analysed the above mentioned risks using both the OCRA index and the daily operators’ exposure to HAV (A(8)) in the olive harvesting operation using hand-held beaters. These machines (quite light, but with both a long shaft and high sticks velocity) record high vibration values and oblige the workers to accomplish repetitive movements with the upper limbs, often with the arms above the shoulders. In this work the OCRA index and the A(8) were calculated for five operators using an electric olive beater: in all the cases the A(8) and the OCRA index exceeded the daily exposure values (the average A(8) was between 13.3 and 21.5 ms-2 and the OCRA indices ranged from 20 to 32). ULMSD and the physical consequences of the vibration are evident only after some years, but the related pathologies are not often completely recoverable. Hand-held olive beaters are quite new machines, but it is important to correctly evaluate both the ULMSD and the vibration risks, to avoid the increment of the related pathologies.