Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 184 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 22 & 24 where one employee was performing injection mold attache and oyster shells (opera- tion #121), clean shell (operation #595, SO-208) and repair with a hot air gun (operation #595). 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/agent, force applied with fingers, with one hand and with both hands, stooping/bending to fit work space, bending to reach work, stretching to reach work, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, pinch, ulnar deviation and radial deviation, finger push, pulp pinch, finger press and medial grasp, and closed fist 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 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 121/595-208/595 1) Provide anti-fatigue mats over the entire work area or use shock absorbing footwear. 2) Provide sit/stand/lean option with adjustable, tiltable work station to reduce prolonged static posture and accommodate different worker heights. 3) Redesign knife handle. 4) Decrease the number of tasks, or assign worker to only one machine, to increase rest time. 5) Provide tilt bin or bin with spring loaded bottom or sides to reduce reaching and bending. 6) Provide uniform levels of work stations to reduce lifting distances and stooping/bending. 7) Use adjustable, tiltable table for cleaning operation. 8) Raise surface for table which catches shells from #24 machine. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"