Ergonomic load in automatic milking systems
The purpose of this study was to determine the health risks and advantages in the working environment among different milking systems. The purpose was also to provide an increased knowledge on the possible priorities of the most important actions to reduce the risk for musculoskeletal disorders. The study was carried out at sixteen dairy farms with loose housing barn in four different types of systems, namely, 1) conventional milking parlour of tandem stall, 2) conventional milking parlour of herringbone stall, 3) automatic milking system (AMS) with one milking robot and 4) the AMS with two milking robots. The farmers daily routine work was categorized into two main actions; milking and other tasks, respectively. Working time for each action was measured during one working day. Ergonomic load was investigated through screening of the working environment with a method named Work Environment Screening Tool (WEST-agriculture). The method is a modified version of a method of WEST that transposes the exposure in the working environment into effect on human health in economic terms in Swedish Krona per thousand working hours. The assessment of ergonomic load is based on the judgment of four parts such as working posture, repetitive work, weight/force to be handled and modifying factors. Furthermore, the annual working time was weighed with the result of the WEST-points, and then summarized into the total cost for each farm per year. A comparison of the results among the four systems was performed as well. As expected, statistically significant differences in ergonomic load among the systems were obtained. The results show that during milking, the ergonomic load was statistically significantly lower at the farms with the AMS than at the farms with milking parlours. The working time consumption for the milking was less at the farms with the AMS as compared to the farms with conventional milking systems. Instead of the milker, the robots operate the most of the heavy, repetitive and one-sided milking task. Therefore, the AMS is a very valuable investment from the ergonomic point of view, and should be taken into account in the investment decision.
Automatic milking system Ergonomic load Working environment screening tool
Qiuqing Geng Anna Torén
Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Box 7033, SE-750 07 Uppsala,Sweden. L(a)nsf(o)rs(a)kringar AB, 106 50 Stockholm, Sweden
国际会议
17th World Congress on Ergonomics(第十七届国际人类工效学大会)
北京
英文
1-6
2009-08-09（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）