Hoping to take the aches and pains out of working in California's famed wine-grape vineyards, a team of University of California researchers has launched a three-year "ergonomics" study of vineyard tasks and related injuries and illnesses. "Rather than replacing workers with mechanization, we hope to identify the high-risk jobs and develop new tools and methods for safely carrying out those tasks," says project director John Miles, a UC Davis professor of biological and agricultural engineering. More than 31,000 workers are employed annually in California's grape vineyards, including both table grapes and wine grapes. Grapes rank as the second largest cash crop in California with total value estimated to be $2.3 billion. From 1981-1990, the state's vineyard industry annually averaged nine fatalities and 3,654 disabling injuries. About 42 percent of the non-fatal vineyard injuries are sprains and strains, of which 41 percent are back injuries. Working with vineyard owners and farm-worker groups in the Napa and Sonoma valleys, researchers will examine tasks such as repetitive motions with a harvesting knife and hoisting heavy grape bins above shoulder level for dumping into harvesting trailers. The study is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The research team also is conducting an ergonomics study of California's nursery industry.