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: a) Employees such as hazardous waste handlers, mixer grinders, batch adjusters, tank attendants, machine fillers, hand fillers, warehouse workers, product service, and utilities, were working in various areas of the facility including, but not limited to, the hazardous waste area, distribution warehouse, paint plant warehouse, sod, mod, intermix, and filling depts. Workers were exposed to situations in which they suffered injuries while pushing, pulling, and lifting bags, drums, handtrucks, carts, and materials at the workplace. There was an extensive history of worker lost time and restricted work activities at the workplace. The workplace history of lifting, pushing, and pulling strain injuries can be reduced by a program of abatement activities which include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) Identify (through OSHA 200 Logs, supervisor(s), and worker questionnaires) all current employees who experience limitations, lost time, work restrictions, and symptoms generally associated with lifting, pulling and pushing stresses to the back, trunk, and hands and arms. Assemble OSHA 101 accident and associated information to spotlight the specifics of job activities that are highly stressful and/or that were associated with worker injury. 2) Giving priority to jobs and work situations developed in item 1 above, perform an ergonomic assessment of each operation to identify the lifting, pushing, pulling, and posture-related strssors that may effect workers involved in handling, lifting, and/or moving items and by work methods. Examples are: failure to slide load in close to the body before lifting, lifts involving torso twisting, and lifts made using straight legs and back bent at the hips and waist. 3) Implementation of control measures to increase adjustability of position into the job and reduce awkward postures. (Example: adjust the horizontal and vertical load distances from the body to allow workers to handle all heavy loads in an erect posture and close to the body). 4) Workplace design parameters (such as load location, start/end relationship, floor condition, scheduled maintenance program of the tank wheels, body posture, keeping heavy objects off the floor, storing heavy objects at mid height, minimize the distance from the body, use a two-person lift for heavy object, use of lighter weight objects (total weight reduction of the object). 5) For high lifting hazard workstations, provide mechanical lifting aids which may include automatic leveling devices, scissor lifts and lift tables, or articulated lifting arm manipulators. 6) Provide training for new employees and conduct annual training sessions to familiarize workers with an appreciation of the types of movements and posture which precipitate back injuries. 7) Implement an ongoing workplace education and awareness program aimed at the maintenance of musculosketel health and prevention of injuries. Specific efforts should include identifying high hazard tasks and the ongoing effort to reduce their number and the severity of the stressors that they contain. 8) Determine which jobs are low stress and could be used for light-duty and restricted work. Assign injured workers, workers returning from extended leave, and new workers to those jobs for periods of two to four weeks to allow their muscles to become work hardened. Monitor the performance of the workers to determine their readiness to return to regular work status. reinforce minimum stress lifting, pushing, pulling, and work practices taught in Item 6 above. Consider the use of a trained physical therapist in the monitoring of worker progress toward unrestricted work status. ABATEMENT SCHEDULE 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 or permanent administrative controls can be implemented, which will reduce employee exposure to nominal risk. STEP 2 Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of abatement outlining management's commitment and responsibilities, as well as a schedule for the implementation of engineering or administrative measures to control employee injury due to manual lifting tasks. Engineering controls to reduce musculoskeletal stresses include, but are not limited to job redesign, reduction of the horiontal and vertical load distance from the body, reduction of the lifting frequency, or weight, and use of mechanical lifting aids. This plan shall include (at a minimum) target dates for the following actions, which must be consistent with the dates required by this citation. 1) Evaluation of the conditions, locations, and manual lifting activities that the employees are performing at the onset of musculoskeletal injuries. 2) Evaluation of applicable control measure(s). 3) Procurement, installation, and operation of selected control measures. All proposed control measures shall be approved for each particular use by a person trained in the evaluation of workplace conditions which cause musculoskeletal disorders. STEP 3 Abatement shall be completed by November 13, 1990 by implementation of feasible engineering or administrative controls and by verification of their effectiveness in reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries.