Ergonomics in Agriculture: Workplace Priority Setting in the Nursery Industry

Although agriculture is generally recognized as the nation's most hazardous industry and displays high rates of musculoskeletal disorders with evidence to suggest that ergonomic risk factors are involved, there is very little history of application of ergonomic approaches in agricultural workplaces. A three-year National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-supported study has been initiated in California nurseries to describe and design engineering interventions for priority musculoskeletal disorders. In this article are reported the results of the project's initial workplace job task screening for ergonomic risk factors and associated musculoskeletal disorder reports to define landmark ergonomic risk factors for the nursery industry and select priority job tasks for intervention.