Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 158 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 14 where one employee was per- forming installation of bumper strip (operation #558) . The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wr- ist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to water/agents (vibration), force applied with fingers, with one hand, with both hands, from one shoulder, from both shoulders, by twisting, and by bending, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movements, twisting to reach objects, stretching to reach objects, reach shoulders forward, reach overhead, reach above shoulders, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation and ulnar deviation, finger push, ab- duction, lateral pinch, finger press, pulp grasp and medial grasp, and closed fist grip and pinch grip which are causing or likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders. The employ- er did not implement an effective control strategy to reduce or eliminate such disorders. The injury and illness records for 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 document a pattern of cumula- tive 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 558 1) Relocate parts bins to reduce shoulder reaches. 2) Provide holster for scissors. 3) Redesign scissors to reduce pressure in palm. 4) Provide lighter, appropriately designed pop-rivet gun or use differnt tool. 5) Provide additional workers to perform task. 6) Provide mechanical ejector to move cases on/off conveyor. 7) Provide brake and perform pop-riveting on rotating jig to prevent moving of case. 8) Provide sit/stand/lean option. 9) Provide even adequate, anti-fatigue mat or shock absorbing footwear. 10) Provide automated or foot controlled case rotation while stripping. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"