Vijay Kamate Journal of Engineering Research and Application www.ijera.com ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 8, Issue 12 (Part -I) Dec 2018, pp 01-10 www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622-0812010109 1 | Page Anthropometry and Its Significance in Safer Agricultural Activities- A Review Article Vijay Kamate, Dr. S. Mohan Kumar Assistant Professor,Department of Mechanical Engineering, SDM College of Engineering & Technology, Dharwad, Karnataka, India Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malanad Engineering College, Hassan, Karnataka, India Corresponding Author: Vijay Kamate ABSTRACT: Ever since from the ancient civilization, the human body dimensions have been measured and used for numerous reasons and applications. Creation of figurative arts, criminology, medical science, industrial situations, product design, automotive and in many more sectors these physical body dimensions are reported in numerous literatures and were summarized in brief in this paper. Implementation of these anthropometric data in different farming/agricultural situations is reviewed in the present article. Agricultural sector is considered to be one of the most hazardous working places in the world today. The current paper mainly focuses on the applications of human factors, physical body dimensions in the regular agricultural practices in the developing and under developed countries and its impact on farmer comfort, ease of farming operations and improvement in agricultural productivity in terms of quality and quantity. The utilization of these body dimensions in various agricultural activities and thus, improving the operating comfort are enlisted, which further can be used in the design of farm tools, implements and equipments. Keywords: Anthropometry, Ergonomics, Human factors, Agriculture -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 18-12-2018 Date of Acceptance: 31-12-2018 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION: Since from the ancient civilization, the human body dimensions have been measured and used for numerous reasons. The body measurements were mostly used in creating human figurative arts, paintings and sculptures depicting the realistic human pictures, paints and models [1]. Further, the data of human body measurements in seventeenth century coined as Anthropometria [2] by German physician Johann Sigismund Elsholtz. It is referred to a method of measuring the living human body parts in establishing the individual sizes at different ages, thus differentiating the human populations relative to one another. French savant, Alphonse Bertillon called it as Physical anthropometry in the scientific method of criminal investigation [3, 4]. He was the first forensic expert to use the anthropometric data in recording the criminal records. During the eighteenth century, the data of human body measurements was used for evaluating the healthy physique of slaves and assessment of physical wellbeing in the recruitment for armed forces by measuring their stature, different body part dimensions, body weight, body shape and muscle strengths or working capacity. Further, in nineteenth century, the data of human body measurements was extended in the medical practices to explore the human body for scientific and medical purposes in identifying the correlation between human body and various diseases. It became a new tool in clinical practices and taxonomy due to increase in public health cautiousness. Today, in medical science and practices anthropometric data is being used in broad spectrum in the areas like nutrition science, cosmetology and aging, obesity studies, sports science, epidemiology, scientific dieting, physical therapy, exercise physiology, surgery and dentistry [5-8]. In engineering discipline, anthropometry influences in a wide range of applications in industrial sectors, process industries, product design, garment industries, automotive, aerospace and building design. Safety in industrial workplace mainly depends on comfortable fit between the working environment, operating tools and the worker. Industry related work also involves the material handling tasks like physical lifting, push-pull loadings and repetitive body movements. The crucial requirement in product or process industries is to design the workstation and equipments suitable for the employed industrial workers. Often, the bad workspace design and awkward working postures in industrial sector have resulted in body fatigue and work related injuries, thus affecting the overall work efficiency and productivity [9-11]. Work related musculoskeletal injuries thus RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS