Journal of Agromedicine· 2026Q2· Review
Occupational Safety and Prevention Strategies for Threshers and Chaff Cutters: A Systematic Review of Global Trends
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A systematic review of 171 documents (2000-2025) reveals that most injuries from threshers and chaff cutters, primarily amputations and crush injuries, are preventable through low-cost engineering and behavioral interventions.
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Key points
- Threshers and chaff cutters cause severe injuries, including amputations, entanglements, and crush injuries.
- Primary causes are exposed moving components, unsafe feeding, inadequate guarding, and limited operator training.
- Most injuries are preventable via engineering (e.g., improved guarding, safer chute designs) and behavioral interventions (e.g., safety training).
- User-centered design enhances safety device usability, especially for older machines in low-resource settings.
- Effective prevention relies on low-cost, robust, maintainable engineering solutions, standards enforcement, retrofitting, and machine-specific training.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Tractors and their associated implements are indispensable to crop production agriculture but remain major contributors to machinery-related injuries and fatalities worldwide. Within this context, agricultural threshers and chaff cutters represent particularly high-risk machines in smallholder and resource-constrained crop production systems. METHODS: This systematic literature review synthesized global evidence on the epidemiology of occupational injuries, causal determinants, and prevention strategies associated with these machines. Peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025 were retrieved from major scientific databases using predefined eligibility criteria. RESULTS: Included in the synthesis were 171 documents authored by 252 researchers from 211 organizations across 33 countries and published in 97 sources. The findings indicate severe injuries, particularly amputations, entanglements, and crush injuries, are primarily associated with exposed moving components, unsafe feeding practices, inadequate guarding, and limited operator training. Evidence consistently shows that most injuries related to threshers and chaff cutters are preventable through context-appropriate engineering and behavioral interventions. Effective prevention strategies include improved guarding of feeding and transmission systems, safer feeding chute designs, emergency stop mechanisms, ergonomic improvements to operator-machine interfaces, and targeted safety training to address unsafe work practices and risk perception. User-centered design approaches further enhance the usability and acceptance of safety devices, particularly for legacy machines widely used in low-resource settings. CONCLUSION: Overall, the review highlights that injury prevention should prioritize low-cost, robust, and easily maintainable engineering solutions, supported by standards enforcement, machine retrofitting programs, and machine-specific safety training to reduce the occupational injury burden in crop agriculture.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Agromedicine, 2026 · DOI ↗
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