Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 154 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 11 where one employee was perform- ing inspection of and repair of case (operation #595) and drilling for hookup (operation 219). The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to water/agents (vibration), force applied with one hand, with both hands, from both shoulders and by bending, bending to reach work, reach shoulders forward, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch radial deviation and ulnar deviation, finger push, ab- duction, pulp pinch, palm pinch, finger press, pulp grasp and medial grasp, and closed fist grip, pencil 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 eliminate such disorders. The injury and illness records for 1990 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 595/219 1) Perform drilling off conveyor to prevent stooping. 2) Provide vibration dampening. 3) Provide shelf support for drilling operations. 4) Provide lighter pop-rivet gun. 5) Perform inspection/drilling operations off the line with a mechan- ical ejector present to move cases on and off the conveyor. 6) Perform drilling off the line in vertical position. 7) Support shelf and suspended, counterweighted tools. 8) Provide support fixture which will support case and permit tilting during manipulations. 9) Provide sit/stand/lean option with adjustable work station. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"