Text For Citation: 02 Item/Group: 024 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 death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to an increased risk of developing cumulative trauma disorder(s) from tasks that they were performing; engineering and administrative controlls were not implemented: a) Dept. 4 - Encapsulated glass window molding ("L" body filmed) where employees who repeatedly perform the tasks of glass trimming and cleaning which requires various arm, wrist and trunk posture (repetitive pronation/supination an flexion/extension of forearm and wrist; pinch of tool with force to stabilize the tool adequately; trunk flexion, extension and twisting) were exposed to ergonomic stresses which are likely to result in cumulative truama disorders. On or about 9/6/89. Among other methods some flexible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard are: Priority 1 - Design an ergonomic handle for the razor blade tool. Priority 2 - Adjust work and reaching height, i.e., a) A chute that guides windows down from molder platform to the workstation at floor levels, with a separate buffer area for storage. b) Tilting of the work surface towards the worker to reduce trunk flexion and reaching of the side of the window(s) away from the worker.