Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 217 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 13, Station 1 where one employee was perform- ing vacuum forming (operation #55). The evaluation of these tasks indicates that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, hand/wrist contact with sharp edges, hands exposed to temperature changes, force applied with fingers, with one hand, with both hands, with one shoulder and with both shoulders, by bending and twisting, stooping/bending to fit work space, work space constrains worker movement, bending to reach objects and work, stretching to reach objects, controls and work, shoulder reach forward, reach above shoulder, reach overhead, elbow flexion and extension, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation, ulnar deviation and rotation, finger push, pulp pinch, palm pinch and finger press, and closed fist 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 records for 1989, 1990, 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 55 1) Use automatic cutter to separate shells. Use automatic scrap removal off trim press by pushing scrap into container. OR 2) Change knife handle design to eliminate ulnar deviation. OR 3) Combine separation of shells/scrap removal into one laser-cutting or other cutting machine.OR 4) Provide powered trim knife to alleviate hand pressure when separat- ing shell halves. OR 5) Develop double trim press to trim both halves of the shell at the same time, eliminating the need to separate the halves before trimming. 6) Relocate trim press controls to lower position. 7) Relocate overhead conveyor to lower and closer position relative to trim press. 8) Use mechanical means of loading and unloading plastic sheets. 9) Reduce height differences between various operations involving stack of plastic sheets, vacuum molding machine, trimming machine, cutting table and conveyor to minimize excess lifting. 10) Gloves should be worn for protecting against sharp edges of plastic mold machine. 11) Heat stress could be reduced by improved ventilation in view of vacuum molding machines. 12) Use of appropriate footwear with shock absorbing polymer materials in lieu of fatigue mat of platform. Appropriate footwear is designed to cushion movement on hard surfaces. Increase work space to reduce congestion. For example, at floor level, foot pedals are exposed and mats and platforms are not connected in an even surface. 13) Provide adjustable height work platform or table to eliminate stooping and bending to fit the work space. 14) Improve padding of all sharp and contact edges: bin edges, handle edges, etc. 15) Institute a knife sharpening program. 16) Provide sit/stand/lean option with adjustable work station. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"