California employers in all industries have one year to develop strategies for meeting stringent new Cal-OSHA standards aimed at reducing cumulative trauma injuries among workers. In an effort to improve working conditions and help agricultural employers respond to the new regulations, which will take effect Jan. 1, 1995, UC Davis researchers are developing an agricultural ergonomic research program. Research will be directed at developing administrative and technological alternatives for common agricultural tasks, without eliminating jobs. "Cumulative trauma injuries, which mainly affect the joints and back, are often the result of jobs that require a great deal of repetitive motion or extensive lifting and bending," says John Miles, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering. In collaboration with James Meyers, an agricultural and environmental health specialist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Miles will analyze how agricultural tasks, ranging from harvesting to packing-shed work, might be modified to safeguard workers' health. His most recent studies have involved new harvesting methods for citrus crops.