Impact of drudgery reducing technology on ergonomics of rural women engaged in milking of animals

Thirty rural women within the age group 20–45 years were identified for field experiment from three different villages of Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh to assess and test the feasibility of the revolving stool in terms of percentage reduction in ergonomic cost of rural women. The results revealed a 26 per cent saving in cardiac cost of women workers per unit of out put for milking a buffalo using a revolving stool as compared to the continuous squatting position while milking an animal traditionally. The women could milk 4.4 litres of milk in 9.43 min using a revolving stool. Respondents did not complain for pain in low back, knees, ankles and calf muscles due to the use of revolving stool during milking. Saving in the reduction of grip strength was to the tune of 11.81 per cent when milking was done using revolving stool. The reduction of grip strength was only 9.03 per cent as compared to the squatting position where strength in grip reduction was 14.9 per cent. Reduction in perceived exersion and total cardiac cost of work with the use of revolving stool for milking were 24.00 per cent and 32.72 per cent, respectively. The drudgery index was also calculated based on linear combination method using the scores obtained from degree of difficulty on body posture handling, time spent on activity and frequency of operation.