Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 111 Hazard: ERGONOMIC

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The emp l employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazard s causing or likely to cause serious physical harm to employees, in that empl o to perform tasks involving ergonomic risk factors (including, but not limit e force and awkward postures) resulting in stressors that had caused, were ca u to cause cumulative trauma disorder(s): a) Department 31, Station 6 where one employee was perform- ing sewing the apron to poly (operation #346). The evalua- tion of these tasks indicate that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, force applied with fingers, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movements, bending to see work, bending to reach objects, twisting to reach work, stretching to reach objects, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, elbow flexion, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation and ulnar deviation, finger push, lateral, palm pinch, and finger press, and pencil 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 and 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 346 1) Design a new sewing station with user adjustable chair, footrest, and ar m fixed at approximately 30 inches high and the point of operation a minimum o of 7 inches above the tabletop. The sewing machine should be slanted at an toward the operator. 2) Tilt work table. 3) Use adjustable swivel chair to permit rotation to adjacent work table on placed (instead of in operator lap) for cutting without wrist deviation. 4) Reduce height of apron stack by placing a lower shelf support to reduce r SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"