Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 220 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 4 where one employee was perform- ing sewing the apron to poly (operation #346). The evalua- tion of these tasks indicate that the employee is exposed ergonomic stressors including: repetition, force applied with fingers, twisting to reach work, stretching to reach objects, shoulder reach forward, elbow flexion, hand/wrist extension, flexion, pinch, radial deviation and ulnar deviation, finger push, lateral, and finger press, and 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 records for 1989, 1990 and 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 346 1) Design a new sewing station with user adjustable chair, footrest, and armrests with the tabletop fixed at approximately 30 inches high and the point of operation a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 inches above the tabletop. The sewing machine should be slanted at an 11 degreee angle toward the operator. 2) Tilt work table. 3) Use adjustable swivel chair to permit rotation to adjacent work table on which aprons can be placed (instead of in operator lap) for cutting without wrist deviation. 4) Reduce height of apron stack by placing a lower shelf support to reduce reaches. 5) Provide cutting device to eliminate snipping. 6) Use finger cups to reduce force. 7) Train employees how to adjust the chair. 8) Pad sharp edges of table. SEE ABATEMENT NOTE: "ERGONOMICS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM"