Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: ERGONOMIC

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: the employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to an unacceptable risk of musculoskeletal injuries, especially back injuries, due to the practice of lifting and lowering heavy, oversized household furnishing and appliances from delivery trucks. Employees were exposed to the risk of increased severity and/or occurrence of illness in that an effective ergonomic program had not been developed and implemented: (a) For truck drivers and their helpers, while delivering furniture, electronics and major appliances at delivery sites. Among other methods, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct the hazards include, but are not limited to, the following: 1. The addition of hydraulic tail-gait lifts to the trucks for use during delivery. 2. Development and implementation of an ergonomic program which include the following elements: A. Identification of all employees who experience symptoms aassociated with musculoskeletal disorders. B. Perform an ergonomic assessment of each operation to identify ergonomic risk factors. C. Develop an adequate training and awareness program for employees, supervisors and managers D. Develop work conditioning program; duty program. E. Develop a medical surveillance program for identifying and tracking musculoskeletal disorders. F. Perform a work station and equipment design analysis to identify risks associated with improper equipment and work station design. ABATEMENT SCHEDULE: THE STEP ABATEMENT PLAN Step 1: Effective administrative protection such as employee training, physical assessment, job rotation, etc., shall be provided as an interim protective measure until feasible engineering and/or administrative controls can be implemented; or whenever such controls fail to reduce employees exposure to nominal risk. Step 2: A written detailed plan of abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or administrative controls which will reduce employee injuries due to manual lifting tasks, repetitive motions and undesirable postures. Step 3: Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation feasible engineering and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness in reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries and back disorders.