Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 188 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 30 where one employee was perform- ing injection mold tether housing (operation #121). The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wr- ist contact with sharp edges, force applied with fingers, with one hand, from one shoulder and from twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, bending to reach ob- jects, twisting to reach objects, stretching to reach objects, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, reach overhead, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, pinch, ulnar deviation, radial deviation and rotation, finger push, lateral pinch, palm pinch and finger press, 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 responsibil- ity 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 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) Provide mechanincal means for trimming flash and punching holes, and improve injection molding to minimize need for manual cutting. 4) Provide alternate tool for cutting, trimming and hole punching operations. 5) Change grip of utility knife to reduce contact stress on hands. 6) Change grip of spiral blade knife to reduce contact stress on hand. 7) Provide mechanical means for flash breaking operation. 8) Provide uniform height of materials to eliminate stooping and bending. 9) Provide larger wheels on frame racks for ease of rack movement. 10) Provide powered assist when moving frame racks. 11) Provide frame rack which does not require excessive bending or reaching overhead. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"