Evaluation of safety aspects for a small-scale machine for nuts harvesting

Most of machinesfor nutharvestingon the market are characterized by a suction system placed over a cart, with wheels or tracks, pulled by a tractor. This solution, although effective and efficient in rational cultivation with planting distances specifically designed to allow the passage of agricultural vehicles, misses instead possibility of use in spontaneous mountain hazel, without a regular planting distance. Moreover, the steep slopes that usually occur in wild hazel, make impractical the maneuvers with the possibility of tractor overturning. Simple mechanical solutions were recently introduced which consist in placing the harvesting suction system above small self-propelled trucks. Recent research has been conducted on risk assessment(overturning risk) during nut harvesting operations in sloping land and on aspects of noise emission.In this study wereassessed, in addition to yard efficiency and working time, safety aspects of a machine made by a local craftsman, but that had a commercial success in the Sicilian area, particularly in the Nebrodi park, an areaof considerable importance for hazelnuts in Sicily. The machine is characterized by a vacuum system placed on a self-propelled crawler to harvest nuts in sloping land and with soils corrected with very close terraces and not easy to reach for the traditional mechanization. In particular, attention was focused to aspects such as noise level and stability: the last evaluated by means of a tillable platform.Moreover the main health risks due to biomechanical overload (risk of WRMSDs - Work Related Muscle Skeletal Disorders) have been analyzed through the risk index assessment, with particular regard to the operators involved in harvesting and in manual handling of the product.Data analysis and evaluation of safety aspects will identify the machine's ability to meet the harvesting operations and any limitations in terms of safety.