Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 081 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 serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were required to perform tasks involving ergonomic risk factors (including, but not limited to, repetitive motions, force and awkward postures) resulting in stressors that had caused, were causing, or were likely to cause cumulative trauma disorder(s): (a) Department 17, Station 1-3 where one employee was performing vacuum forming (operation #:55) and hinge spacer assembly (operation #439). The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to temperature changes, force applied with fingers, force applied with hands, force applied with shoulders, elbow extension, bending and stretching to reach objects, elbow flexion with force, force applied with twisting, hand/wrist flexion and pinch, pulp pinch, hand/wr- ist flexion, shoulder flexion, ulnar deviation and radial deviation, finger push, palm pinch and finger press, which are causing or likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders. The employer did not implement an effective control strategy to reduce or eliminate such disorders. The injury and illness records for 1989, 1990, 1991 document a pattern of cumulative trauma disorders associated with this operation. While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the employer, given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are not limited to, the following: ABATEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: OPERATION 55 1) Use automatic cutter to separate shells. Use automatic scrap removal off trim press by pushing scrap into container. OR 2) Change knife handle design to eliminate ulnar deviation. OR 3) Combine separation of shells/scrap removal into one laser-cutting or other cutting machine.OR 4) Provide powered trim knife to alleviate hand pressure when separat- ing shell halves. OR 5) Develop double trim press to trim both halves of the shell at the same time, eliminating the need to separate the halves before trimming. 6) Relocate trim press controls to lower position. 7) Reduce height differences between various operations involving stack of plastic sheets, vacuum molding machine, trimming machine, cutting table and conveyor to minimize excess lifting. 8) Lower and reorient edge of conveyor part bins by tilting and opening front edge for easy access and reduces reaching. 9) Gloves should be worn for protecting against sharp edges of plastic mold machine. 10) Heat stress could be reduced by improved ventilation in view of vacuum molding machines. 11) Use of appropriate footwear with shock absorbing polymer materials in lieu of fatigue mat of platform. Appropriate footwear is designed to cushion movement on hard surfaces. Increase work space to reduce congestion. For example, at floor level, foot pedals are exposed and mats and platforms are not connected in an even surface. 12) Provide adjustable height work platform or table to eliminate stooping and bending to fit the work space. 13) Provide a cart with larger wheels to move sheets of material to the vacuum form machine, to decrease blocking effect of debris on the floor. ABATEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: OPERATION 439 1.) Discontinue use of poorly fitting gloves to facilitate manual manipulation. 2.) Provide adjustable height work platform or table to eliminate stooping and bending to fit the work space. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"