Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 183 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 6, Station 19 where one employee was perform- ing installation of rubber gasket (operation #80), injection mold oyster shell (operation #121), install hinge pin to shell (operation #535), clean shell (operation #595, SO-208) and repair with a hot air gun (operation #595). The evalua- tion of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to water/agent, force applied with fingers, with one hand, with both hands, with one shoulder, with both shoulders, by bending and by twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, bending to reach work and objects, stretching to reach objects and work, shoulder reach forward, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, ulnar deviation, radial deviation and rotation, finger push, pulp pinch and medial grasp, and closed fist, pencil 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 data for 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 80/121/535/595-208/595 1) Provide anti-fatigue mats over the entire work area or use shock absorbing footwear. 2) Redesign handle of gasket tool to eliminate wrist deviations or automate insertion of gasket. 3) Pad handle of tool and change shape to reduce contact stress and allow power grip. 4) Provide automatice cutting device for gasket material. 5) Provide sit/stand/lean option with adjustable, tiltable work station to reduce prolonged static posture and accommodate different worker heights. 6) Improve installation process to eliminate "popping out" of gasket. 7) Provide worker with properly fitting gloves to reduce awkward posture. 8) Provide tilt bin or bin with spring loaded bottom or sides to reduce reaching and bending. 9) Orgainze work space layout to permit ease of moving case from place to place. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"