Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 106 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 21, where one employee was performing packing (operation #:599). The evaluation of this task indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, force applied with fingers, one hand, both hands, one shoulder, both shoulders, by bending and by twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movement, bending to reach objects, shoulders different levels, reach behind body, reach forward, reach above shoulder, reach overhead, throw objects over shoulder, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation, ulnar deviation and rotation, finger push, abduction pulp pinch, palm pinch, finger press and medial grasp, and pinch 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 599 1. Arrange work space to minimize lifting by avoiding movement of cartons and suitcase through different levels. For example, if conveyor and carton are suitably aligned the suitcase can be lowered in to carton using gravity assist. 2. Increase work space for safety and convenience. 3. Add curve to handle of nozzle of glue gun to avoid wrist deviations. 4. Use automatic rather than manual labeling of carton. 5. Use more than one employee for this operation to increase opportunities for rest breaks. 6. Use directive bar or other mechanism to deliver case from conveyor to operator. 7. Provide sit/stand/lean capability to reduce static stress. 8. Provide employee with label gun similar to the one used to mark prices on items in grocery stores to reduce torso flexion and reaches. 9. Use a palletizer as a work station to apply the labels and to stack the labeled boxes until they are used for shipment. 10. Develop a conveyor that gradually ramps up so the case is higher than the packing box to eliminate the distance the case must be lifted. 11. Suspend the glue gun overhead to reduce wrist deviation. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"