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The work environment, drudgery, accidents and injuries are the natural hazards to every one live, play and work in the farm environment. With the cognizance that the micro-and macro-ergonomics manifestations would vary with the resource poor and green revolution agricultural bases, geographical and agro-climatic variations, the ergonomics promises the reap benefit to the farmers and rural communities as a discipline of practicality. Despite the promises in improving work systems and form of cultivation, the progress in ergonomics policy intervention in organizing work, redesigning the tools and machinery, and promoting safe and productive work practices ahs been slow. Since agriculture is unorganized in character, the work systems analysis and design requires a convenient framework to profile the aspects of work in traditional and mechanized farming, prioritize man-machine functions, and form guidance in improving work and working conditions Particularly in the traditional farming, there are concerns related to drudgery, slow pace of work, and other issues of work organization (e.g., primitive tools and methods), where ergonomics might bring solution by contributing to the work efficiency and productivity justified factors. For example, re-designed pedal threshers, wheel hoe weeders and multi-row seeders can be seen as replacement of age-old methods.
However, the complexity of redesign efforts in tools and methods of work must be realized to decide on its implementation. The whole gamut of hand tools have primarily been designed for right handed persons. Since nearly 8% of the farmers are left hand dominant, these users are unaware of any difference that might make of right and left handed operation. One might look into the dimensional incompatibility of the machinery or workplaces, in which answers are easy to incorporate taking account of the user population. There might be questions that require complex judgment as regard the extent of force one should handle on a regular basis. As mentioned above, the braking force required for tractor operation (600 N or more) may be highly fatiguing to a person weighing 50 to 60 kg. Even a single axle power tiller generates many times more horsepower than a person can generate to hold the machine and walk-behind. Often the rear end of the power tiller gets lifted and the operator meets with severe accident.
The machinery (e.g., threshers and chaff cutters) accidents were often the result of human manipulative errors due to its design-induced limitations. For example, the poor feeding systems and workplace arrangements were responsible for majority of the mutilating hand injuries at the mechanical threshers. It recognizes the importance of the need solving approach and the level of technology applied is immaterial to address problems in the rural sector. Retrofitting of safety gadgets on 100 chaff cutters (e.g., warning roller on the feeding chute; gear cover, blade guard) and 25 threshers in northern India received a favourable response among the farmers.
In spite of the enactment for installation of safe feeding systems on mechanical threshers, as large as 41.85 accidents/1,000 threshers/yr in southern India (Table 2) brings out the shortcomings in production, distribution and monitoring the conditions of machinery in field use. The machinery introduced in the rural areas has not been well supported for maintenance and services by building up of local technical capability. Moreover, adhering to safety and design standards in constructing the manually operated and animal drawn implements is impractical to those fabricated in the local workshops or by the local artisans. The obvious limitations exist in enforcing legislation in farm activities except by making known of the hazards and educating farmers on safe work practices.
There is an implied challenge for effective ergonomics transfer, since the poor farmers have a constant fear in endangering themselves to a newer approach which has not been time tested. However, the ergonomics job design approaches can be integrated and tailored in the line of ILO proposed occupational safety and health (OSH) management system by organizational enabling of the local infra-structure, such as black development, rural agricultural extension services, and primary health services, to permeate ergonomics and OSH in the farming sector.
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