Development of an ergonomic instrument for evaluation of forest harvest machines

• Grant number: 09/17442-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2010
• End date: September 30, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Mauro José Andrade Tereso
• Grantee: Mauro José Andrade Tereso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Agrícola (FEAGRI). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Roberto Funes Abrahão

Abstract

The Brazilian forest economic sector is growing fast with the mechanization of forest harvesting. Mainly, the machines used in forest harvesting are imported from North America or Europe, where operators have different anthropometric characteristics from Brazilian operators, what can generate usability problems. This research seeks to evaluate de real work condition of brazilian forest harvest machines operators through the application of an Ergonomic Work Analysis method. Three types of machines (Feller - Buncher, Skidder and Slasher) will be analyzed, because they are the most popular machines used for forest harvesting. The results of this research will be used in the elaboration of an ergonomic assessment instrument that will help in the selection of forest harvesting machines. (AU)