Investigation of the vibrations transmitted by agricultural tractor to the driver under operative conditions

Professional risk from mechanical vibrations is contemplated, in the national legislation, by the Legislative Decree 187/05, receiving the 2002/44/CE Directive that indicates the minimum prescriptions, in safety and health matter, concerning workers’ exposure to the risk from vibrations. From an health point of view, the vibrations transmitted to the workers are traditionally classified as whole body vibrations or hand harm system vibrations. The present paper took into consideration the levels of the whole body vibrations transmitted to the drivers by a series of agricultural tractors of different dimensions and power, under typical conditions of utilisation. The tests have been conducted according to the ISO 2631-1:1997 standard concerning the measurement of vibration levels at the driver seat. Each tractor has been used in two operations typical for its characteristics, using proper operating machines, with the aim of characterizing the level of vibrations produced by each operation, in terms of total acceleration, axial acceleration and time of exposure, calculated by means of a suitable Excel data-sheet, providing both the “limit value” and the “safety value”.