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

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupation 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 increased risk of musculoskeletal injury: a) Warehouse, delivery truck manual loading operation employees were exposed to increased risk of musculoskeletal injury while loading cases of soft drinks onto trucks, #25, #29, and #33, March 2, 1988. Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable abatement method to correct this hazard is to implement a comprehensive back and musculoskeletal overexertion injury prevention program. This program should include the implementation of the following steps: STEP 1 - Effective administrative protection, such as employee training, physical assessment, job rotaion, 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 a nominal risk. STEP 2 - Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of abatement outlining 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 horizontal and vertical load distrance 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 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. 4) Monitoring to assure effective utilization of the control measure(s). STEP 3 - Abatement shall have been completed by implementation of feasible engineering administrative controls, upon verification of verification of their effectiveness in reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries.