Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 152 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 9 where one employee was perform- ing pop-riveting lift levers (operation #674). The evalua- tion of these tasks indicate that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to agents (forced movement), force applied with fingers, with one hand, with both hands, from one shoulder, from both shoulders and by twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movement, bending to reach objects, twisting to reach objects, stretching to reach objects, shoulders reached behind body, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, throw objects over shoulder, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation and ulnar deviation, finger push, abduction, pulp pinch, palm pinch and finger press, and closed fist grip, pistol grip, 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 elimin- ate 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 674 1) Rearrange parts to improve access and reduce reaches. 2) Improve access with parts chute. 3) Provide lighter and redesigned pop-rivet gun. 4) Suspend and counterweight pop-rivet gun. 5) Increase number of workers performing operation. 6) Provide ajustable fixture for shell to reduce deviations. 7) Provide sit/stand/lean option with adjustable workstation. 8) Improve anti-fatigue mat and use shock absorbing footwear. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"