Agricultural safety in Human-tractor interaction: novices and experts evaluation of usability and attitudes toward the adoption of a new Foldable ROPS supporting device

Tractor rollover is the main cause of fatal injuries in agriculture. The Foldable Rollover Protective Structure (FROPS) is fitted on tractors to prevent the risks to the driver. However, a number of deaths occurs during tractor rollovers when the FROPS was either removed or folded-down. Previous studies found that operators consider FROPS handling as a time-consuming, strenuous and/or an uncomfortable operation. To facilitate the raising and lowering operations, we developed a FROPS supporting device (rod + gas spring) adopting a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach. In the present paper three groups of novice-novice, novice-expert and expert-expert users were asked to raise two rear mounted FROPS: a traditional one and a second one equipped with the new supporting device. A questionnaire assessed the usability (effort, feelings of discomfort, temporal demand and satisfaction) and attitudes toward the adoption of the supporting device. All groups reported less physical effort, more stable postures, higher levels of satisfaction in handling the FROPS equipped with the supporting device, and the participants declared to be willing to adopt the device on their tractors when commercially available. The developed handling system showed to be effective in making the FROPS easier to be operated, encouraging a safe human-tractor interaction.