Text For Citation: 03 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: ERGONOMIC

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occuapational 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: The employer failed to render employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards causing and/or likely to cause serious physical harm to employees working in the tortilla factory when performing manual tortilla packaging activities. Employees were exposed to musculoskeletal injuries from the repetitive motion requirements of the job. Feasible and useful methods to correct the hazard include, but are not limited to, ergometric redesign of the tortilla packaging operation, instruction and supervision of employees in the recognition, and avoidance of hazards associated with repetitive motions and administrative controls to limit employee exposure. STEP 1- a) Conduct a feasibility study to determine the administrative/ engineering controls that would reduce the risk of cumulative trauma disorders (CTD). b) Set up a medical surveillance program to prevent CTD cases from becoming severe. This involves the following steps: i) Identify the specific departments which have documented a high rate of CTD's. ii) Systemically analyze each job (time and motion studies may be used). Look for factors known to be associated with CTD development. These include posture of the hand and wrist, strength, stress concentations and vibrations. STEP 2- Submit to the Area Director a written detailed plan of abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or administrative measures to control employee exposure to musculoskeletal injuries when packaging tortillas. This plan shall include, at a minimum target dates for the above actions which should be consistent with the dates required by this citation. STEP 3- Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation of feasible engineering and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness in achieving compliance.