The Australian wine industry is a valuable part of the wider Australian economy worth approximately $45 Billion Australian dollars annually and employs 163,790 people either full time or part time [1]. Therefore, the wine industry and the health and safety of its workers are an important part of Australian society and the economy. The industry is also somewhat unique in that most businesses are small to medium in size and consist of multiple workplace environments within the one business. It has been said that the Australian wine industry consists of a small number of large businesses and large number of small businesses [2]. In 2020 there were 2361 wineries and 6251 grape growers in Australia. Approximately 64% of producers are considered small to medium and process less than 50 tonnes of grapes per year. While 20% of businesses process 50–499 tonnes per annum, and the remaining 16% process more than 500 tonnes per annum [2].
A typical wine business may include a winery, vineyard, laboratory, office and a cellar door sales/hospitality outlet. Business owners and employees may work in various combinations of roles across the business, particularly in smaller family run businesses. Small wineries are comprised of a primary industry (grape growing), a secondary process (wine production) and tertiary activities such as restaurants and cellar door sales [3].
Grape growing activities can include operating heavy machinery as well as driving tractors and harvesters in the vineyard. Winery activities can include operating forklifts/pumps/crushers/conveyor belts and bottling machines, along with analysing juice and wine samples in the laboratory plus general office work. Sales and hospitality work in the cellar door can often include food service. Most of these activities involve wearing protective safety footwear and standing for long periods. This is particularly the case during the vintage/harvest season when the weather is very hot and shifts are longer than usual due to the time constraints involved in harvesting and processing grapes at the optimal time.
To date no data has been published on the types of injuries experienced in the Australian wine industry. However, the South Australian government, which is the largest wine production area in Australia and accounts for 52% of the national output, publishes data on workplace injuries across several industries [2, 4]. While the wine industry is predominantly an agriculture endeavour, it is comprised of activities such as manufacturing, technical/trade, labouring, machinery operating/driving, professional activities and hospitality/sales work. The majority of injuries reported by the South Australian government across all industries in 2020 were for technicians/trade workers (27.9%), labourers (26.6%) and machinery operators/drivers (16%). The injuries were predominantly upper limbs (38.5%), lower limbs (18.9%) and trunk/back (17.9%). The nature of the injuries were mainly traumatic joint/ligament/muscle/tendon injuries (37%), wounds/lacerations (29.1%) and musculoskeletal diseases (15.2%). The main mechanism for these injuries were body stresses (34.5%), being hit by an object (19.4%) and falls/trips/slips (17.3%) [4].
Bernard et al [5], surveyed French vineyard workers and suggest that both biomechanical and psychosocial factors may play a role in musculoskeletal pain. They found upper limb pain (31.2%), neck/shoulder (28.9%), lower limb (25%) and back pain (55%) prevalence during grapevine pruning and grape harvesting. Harith et al [6] describe manual harvesting as still being prevalent in agriculture industries and is the largest contributor to work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Mitchell and Lystad [7] reported that in the Australian aquaculture industry, 37.3% of injuries were body stressing events and lower limb injuries accounted for 20.3% of all injuries.
Anderson et al [8] state that 50% of workers are exposed to the risk of musculoskeletal disorders due to spending prolonged hours standing at work, these can include lower back, lower extremity and foot disorders. They also suggest that the flooring, footwear and the body are inextricably linked and all three of these factors must be considered when assessing workers experiencing workplace musculoskeletal disorders. Australian agricultural industries have been described as being amongst the nation’s most dangerous workplaces [9].
Safety boots are compulsory in many occupations to protect the feet of workers from external stimuli, particularly in harsh environments [10]. The unique environmental conditions and tasks in different occupations necessitates a variety of boot designs to match each workers occupational requirements. Unfortunately, safety boot are often designed more for safety at the expense of functionality and comfort [10]. Dobson et al [11] surveyed Australian underground miners and found there was a great dis-satisfaction with their work boot design. Over half of the miners believed their work boots contributed to their lower limb pain and reported that their boots were uncomfortable. Different working roles and environments caused different incidences of foot problems, lower limb pain and comfort scores. They conclude that one boot design cannot meet all the requirements of underground coal mining [11].
Other risk factors for agricultural workplace injuries include working full time, being the owner/operator, medication use, prior injury, poor health, stress/depression and poor hearing [12]. Heat stress has also been highlighted as a risk factor for occupational injuries in the horticulture industry in Australia [13].
During vintage, grape harvesting and processing will often be performed in shifts due to the unpredictability of grape ripeness and winery logistics. Research on the effects of inadequate sleep on shift workers in Australia has shown that it can have an impact on alertness, work performance and risk of injury resulting in incapacity and even fatality [14]. Likewise, 11% of European shift workers experienced an ‘occupational accident absence’ and that doing shift work is significantly associated with occupational accidents [15].
When these risk factors and the nature of wine industry work are taken into consideration, especially during the busy vintage/harvest period, it is important to try and minimise the risk of injuries to workers as much as possible. Therefore, the aims of this study were to (1) identify the types of lower limb problems that occur in the Australian wine industry and (2) identify the types of safety footwear used.