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Ergonomics
Published in Frank R. Spellman, Surviving an OSHA Audit, 2020
Private sector employers spend about $60 billion each year on workers’ compensation claims associated with musculoskeletal disorders, which involve illnesses, and injuries linked to repetitive stress, or sustained exertion on the body. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has tried to develop a workplace standard that would require employers to reduce ergonomic hazards in the workplace. A draft standard that OSHA circulated for comment in 1995 generated stiff opposition from many employers, because they believed it required an unreasonable level of effort to address ergonomic issues. Since then, Congress has limited OSHA’s ability to issue a proposed, or final ergonomic standard. The GAO (General Accounting Office) found that employers can reduce the costs, and injuries associated with ergonomic hazards, thereby improving employees’ health and morale, as well as productivity and product quality, through simple, flexible approaches that are neither costly nor complicated. Effective ergonomics programs share certain core elements: Management commitment, employee involvement, identification of problem jobs, development of solutions, training and education of employees, and appropriate medical management. OSHA may wish to consider a framework for a worksite ergonomics program that gives employers the flexibility to introduce site-specific efforts, and the discretion to determine the appropriate level of effort to make, as long as the effort effectively addresses the hazards.
Industrial Hygiene Program
Published in Ron C. McKinnon, The Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, 2019
The main industrial hygiene hazards faced are as follows: Chemical Hazards – chemical hazards include gasses, fumes, dusts, vapors, mists, and smoke. Some chemical hazards become respiratory hazards as they are inhaled, while others can be absorbed into the skin, causing burns or other irritations.Physical Hazards – physical hazards include extreme temperature, ionizing radiation, non-ionizing radiation, noise, and vibration, which can cause effects such as sunburn, frostbite, radiation exposure, or hearing loss.Biological Hazards – biological hazards include viruses, bacteria, mold, yeast, fungi, and organisms that can cause sickness or disease.Ergonomic Hazards – ergonomic hazards include hazards caused from twisting, awkward posturing, working overhead, kneeling, lifting, gripping, static posturing, overreaching, forceful exertion, contact stress, repetitive motion, vibration, and bending. Most ergonomic hazards result in bodily pain or injury.
Ergonomics
Published in Frank R. Spellman, Kathern Welsh, Safe Work Practices for Wastewater Treatment Plants, 2018
Frank R. Spellman, Kathern Welsh
Private sector employers spend about $60 billion each year on workers’ compensation claims associated with musculoskeletal disorders, which involve illnesses and injuries linked to repetitive stress or sustained exertion on the body. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has tried to develop a workplace standard that would require employers to reduce ergonomic hazards in the workplace. A draft standard that OSHA circulated for comment in 1995 generated stiff opposition from many employers because they believed it required an unreasonable level of effort to address ergonomic issues. Since then, Congress has limited OSHA’s ability to issue a proposed or final ergonomic standard. The GAO [General Accounting Office] found that employers can reduce the costs and injuries associated with ergonomic hazards, thereby improving employees’ health and morale as well as productivity and product quality, through simple, flexible approaches that are neither costly nor complicated. Effective ergonomics programs share certain core elements: management commitment, employee involvement, identification of problem jobs, development of solutions, training and education of employees, and appropriate medical management. OSHA may wish to consider a framework for a worksite ergonomics program that gives employers the flexibility to introduce site-specific efforts and the discretion to determine the appropriate level of effort to make, as long as the effort effectively addresses the hazards.
Informal-sector occupational hazards: an observational workplace assessment of the traditional medicine trade in South Africa
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2021
Busisiwe Shezi, Rajen N. Naidoo, Sheena Muttoo, Angela Mathee, Laura Alfers, Richard Dobson, Patrick Ndlovu, Renee A. Street
The most widely distributed hazard identified in our study setting was ergonomic, resulting from lifting heavy objects, repetitive tasks, pulling and pushing, awkward postures and sitting for long periods. This is in line with primary ergonomic hazards which include excess force, repetition, awkward posture and vibration [25]. Moreover, workers in informal-sector settings often work with improvised tools and workstations, not necessarily designed for the specific tasks, which may result in abnormal work postures and musculoskeletal movement. A cross-sectional study of work-related shoulder pain among informal garment workers (n = 446) in Thailand revealed that work posture and workstations were contributing risk factors. The authors proposed ergonomic education and redesign of seats at the workstations [26]. In the formal occupational setting, postural analyses such as the Ovako working posture analysing system (OWAS) [22] (a low-sensitivity method), the quick exposure check (QEC) [27] and rapid upper-limb assessment (RULA) [21] have been used for ergonomic risk assessment. However, such approaches are limited in describing ergonomic risks faced by workers in the informal sector because of the variety of tasks performed, varying frequency and different types of tools used, as shown by this study.
History of the Landmark U.S. Ergonomics Guidelines for Meatpacking
Published in IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors, 2020
Analyze all planned, new, and modified facilities, processes, materials, and equipment to ensure that such workplace changes will contribute to reducing or eliminating ergonomic hazards. This analysis should be conducted by both management and an ergonomic professional or other qualified person (OSHA, 1989, p. 11).