Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 143 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 19, Station VF16 where one employee was performing vacuum forming (operation #55). The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, force applied with fingers, force applied with one hand, with both hands, with one shoulder, with both shoulders, by bending and by twisting, stooping/- bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movement, bending to reach work and objects, twisting to reach work, stretching to reach objects and work, reach shoulder forward, reach above shoulder, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, ulnar deviation, radial deviation and rotation, finger push, pulp pinch, palm pinch and finger press, 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 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) Provide adjustable height work platform or table to eliminate stooping and bending to fit the work space. 2) 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. 3) Pad sharp edges of trim press guard. 4) Change knife handle design to eliminate ulnar deviation. 5) Institute a knife sharpening program. 6) Use automatic cutter to separate shells or design a double punch machine to reduce the number of cuts necessary. 7) Relocate trim press controls to lower position. 8) Provide spring loaded or tilted bin to reduce bending and reaching. 9) Provide sit/stand/lean option. 10) Use automatic scrap removal off trim press by pushing scrap into container. 11) Redesign cutting table to incline toward worker. 12) Heat stress could be reduced by improved ventilation in view of vacuum molding machines. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"