Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 151 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 8, Station 8 where one employee was perform- ing rail riveting (operation #532). 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 effec- tive 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. An employee who was exposed to undue repetitive motion trauma, excessive force and awkward finger, hand and arm positions while working as a Rail Riveter on Line 8/9 underwent 2 surgical procedures. No second opinion was sought prior to the surgical procedures and the employee worked at the same job position until surgery. there is not evidence that job reassignment or modification, days off work or restricted work activity was used as a therapeutic approach for conservative medical treatment to address the CTD problem prior to the surgery. The employee was returned to work at the position after the first surgery without modification of the job duties or the work station. 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) Reduce number of job tasks to increase rest time. 2) Increase number of workers performing the task. 3) Provide lean option. 4) Provide rotating fixture to hold shell so that operator support is unnecessary. 5) Reorient the job operation to reduce vertical reach. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"