Ergonomische adviezen bij de ontwikkeling van uniform fust voor bloemenbollen = Ergonomic advices concerning standardized flower bulbs crates

In 2006 a study is done to generate ergonomic advices with respect to the design of a standardized crate that is to be used in flower bulb cultivation and flower bulb trade. Reason for this study was an earlier AKK study, which concluded that standardisation of the crates will reduce costs (particularly for transport) and improve flower bulb quality. Therefore, companies in this sector try to implement standardized crates.The aim of the present study was to give ergonomic advices concerning the layout of these crates, resulting in reduction of the physical load during manual handling of them. Another goal was to satisfy the people who will have to work with the crates, by respecting their wishes and requirements as far as possible.In close cooperation with the manager of the AKK-study, labour-related questions which remained unanswered in that study are inventoried. Further, according to the method `ergonomic design, additional wishes of the people who will have will work with the standardised crates have been formulated. Finally is examined how the inventoried requirements and wishes can be fulfilled. For that purpose the questions were answered, based on literature reviews, measurements and expertise.Some of the most important results are that:Physical load is lower during the lifting of 40x60 cm crates than during the lifting of 50x75 cm crates with the same weight.The physical load during the lifting of low standing crates reduces when the crates (and therefore handles) are as high as possible, but this effect is very small. Since the height of the piles is limited by other factors, no effect of crate altitude on physical load is expected when crates have to be moved from or to a high level. Without the use of special tools the physical load is always too high when piles are higher than 1.70 m. But even in ideal conditions the lifting of 15 or 20 kg crates to an altitude of 1.70 m results in a Lifting Index of 1.1 or 1.4 respectively, what is higher than the health standard.For handles, a dimension of 125x40 mm is recommended. Sharp edges must be avoided and it must be impossible to put sharp objects, such as staples, through the handles.Closed handles prevent that bulbs fall through the handles. Physical load when crates are taken from or placed on a high pile can be reduced al little when these handles are not only at the top of the crates, but also halfway.No large effect of standardisation of the layout of the crates on mechanisation is expected, since nearly all tools do not pick up the crates but grip them. Standardisation of the format (40x60 cm) is important, however, and the sides must be exactly rectangular.For transport in conditioned sea containers (inner width 2.26 or 2.28 m.) 100x120 cm pallets are most suitable. However, physical load during manual piling up of crates on these pallets is higher than when 80x100 cm pallets are used. In both cases the health limits are largely exceeded during manual handling of the crates.If crates with different altitudes must become piled up on the same pallet, tuning of the altitude of the different crates is needed. Good examples are 18 and 24 cm or 16.5 and 22 cm. If it must be possible to read the information on the crates automatically, transponders (chips) are preferred over bar codes. It is recommended to apply a low-frequency system and to give all crates only a unique number. A central database can contain information concerning the contents of all crates.The recommendations in this report answer different questions and some of them can not be combined with some others. For this reason the `ideal crate will be a combination of compromises. Therefore it is recommended - in accordance with the original design of this study to carry out a pilot before choosing definitively for one basic design for the standardized crates. In this pilot all users should be involved, and it is preferred to let them test a number of copies of the aimed types of cask.