Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 148 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 8, station 5 where one employee was performing rivet wheels (operation #205). The evaluation of this task indicates that the employee is exposed to ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, force applied with both hands, work space constraint of worker movement, bending to reach objects, twisting and stretching to reach objects, reach shoulders forward, reach behind body, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, ulnar deviation, and rotation, radial deviation and rotation, palm pinch, pulp grasp, finger press which are causing or likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders. The employer did not implement an effective control strategy to reduce or elimin- ate such disorders. The injury and illness records for 1990 and 1991 document a pattern of cumulative trauma disorders associated with this operation. While ultimate responsibil- ity for correcting the hazard rests with the employer, given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and accept- able abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are not limited to, the following: ABATEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS: OPERATION 205 1) Relocate parts to uniform height with work surface to reduce necess- ary reaching. 2) Use adjustable machines to avoid wrist deviations. 3) Provide mechanical ejector to move shells on and off conveyor to work station. 4) Wooden platform provided reduces force to hold shell while position- ing wheels on rivet machine. 5) Wxpand work space and position bin to eliminate the need to reach behind. 6) Provide continuous adequate mats and shock absorbing footwear. 7) Part chutes could allow more compact storage and closer proximity to worker. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"