Vascular Vibration Risksin Olive Harvesting with Portable Equipment

In order to reduce production costs, the use of portable harvesters for olives has become widely spread where full mechanization is not possible. These machines allow operators to increase productivity compared to manual harvesting methods. However, they almost always expose the hand-arm system of operators to a level of daily vibration exposure, calculated according to ISO 5349–1:2001 standard, much higher than the daily exposure limit value of 5 m s−2 stated by the European Directive 2002/44/EC. Consequently, operators are subjected to vascu- lar risks that, in some cases, could be underestimated. The ISO/TR 18570:2017 standard provides a supplementary method for assessing the risk of vascular dis- orders and it should also be used to complete the vascular risk assessment. In this study, both ISO 5349–1:2001 and ISO/TR 18570:2017 standards were utilized to analyze the vibrations produced by two models of electric portable harvesters. These differed in the kinematics of the harvester heads and in the rods to which they were applied. Experimental tests were carried out under idling and load conditions. Acceleration values were measured in two points on the rods, near the hand positions. The frequency analysis of the acceleration signals, carried out according to ISO 5349–1:2001, confirmed very high levels of daily vibration exposure. These were mainly influenced by the kinematics of the harvester head. The analysis according to ISO/TR 18570:2017 also confirmed the influence of the kinematics of the harvester head on the weighted acceleration values and, in some case, provided an increase in the acceleration level transmitted to the operator’s hands compared to that recorded according to ISO 5349–1:2001.