Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 091 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 9 where one employee was perform- ing rail riveting(operation #532) and assembling handles (operation #642). The evaluation of these tasks indicate that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, force applied with fingers, with one hand, with both hands, from both shoulders and by twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movement, bending to see work, bending to reach work, twisting to reach objects, stretching to reach objects, stretching to reach work, shoulders different levels, shoulders reached behind body, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, reach overhead, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation, ulnar deviation and rotation, finger push, pulp pinch, palm pinch, medial grasp and finger press, and pinch and closed fist grip 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 cumula- tive 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 532 1) Increase work space to reduce congestion. 2) Redesign rail riveting machine for automatic operation. 3) Reorient shell to horizontal and gluing process in place of rivet machine. Rail could be pre-formed. 4) Increase rest opportunities eg. by increasing the number of operators performing this task. 5) Reorient parts distribution to avoid backward reaching for rail. 6) Provide sit/stand/lean option. 7) Reorient rivet machine to be operated at approximately a 30 degree angle to allow employee to rest the case on their shoulder, eliminating holding the case above shoulder height. 8) Provide adjustable height and orientation rivet machine. ABATEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: OPERATION 642 1) Reduce number of tasks to increase rest time. 2) Increase number of workers performing the task. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"