OSHA Inspection: CONCORD PORTEX INC.

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Aug 5, 1990

Penalty

Initial $810 · Current $635 Reduced

General-duty citation text

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
lifting tasks without use of administrative or engineering controls:
a) Assembly Area - Employees were observed lifting and moving boxes
containing water bottles in various areas of the facility from
pallets to the floor and/or from the floor to pallets or conveyors.
The evaluation of these lifting tasks indicated that employees are
exposed to an increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries on 9/27/89.
ABATEMENT NOTE: A review of the 1988 and 1988 OSHA 200 logs documented a
pattern of musculoskeletal injuries attributed to handling boxes of
materials with the majority of injuries associated with handling water
bottle boxes. A contributing factor to these injuries may be the uneven
lifts in combination with a twisting motion on the part of the employee.
Among other methods, some feasible and acceptable abatement methods
available to correct this hazard include:
1) Adjustment of the vertical and horizontal load distances from the
body.
- Keep the loads as close to the body as possible
- Avoid simultaneous lifting and twisting
- Design the work place to avoid floor lifts
- Position pallets of materials closer to the actual work area.
2) Provide mechanical lifting aids such as lift tables (spring,
hydraulic or pneumatic) so materials are picked up at waist height.
(Lifting below the knees or above the shoulder height is more
strenuous than lifting between these areas.)
3) Reduce the weight of the boxes that employees handle to below the
action level calculated by using the NIOSH lifting guide.
4) Institute a training and education program.
- covering risks of lifting
- covering lifting biomechanics
- covering musculoskeletal considerations
- handling skills - posture, movement, timing
- materials handling aids.
5) Institute a program of physical conditioning or stretching prior to
the start of work and periodically throughout the day to reduce the
risk of muscle strain.
Step 1
Effective administrative protection, such as employee training,
physical assessment, job rotatio, etc., shall be provided as
an interim protective measure until feasible engineering or
administrative controls can be implemented or whenever such
controls fail to reduce employee exposure to nominal risk.
Step 2
Submit to the area director a written detailed plan of abatement
outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering or
administrative control measures to control the risk of employee
injury due to manual lifting tasks. The plan shall include at a
minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be
consistent with the dates required by this citation.
1) Evaluation of the conditions, locations and manual lifting activities
that the employees perform at the onset of musculoskeletal injuries.
2) Evaluation of applicable control measures.
3) Procurement, installation and operation of selected control
measures.
4) Monitoring to assure effective utilization of the control measures.
Step 3
Abatement shall have been completed by implementation of feasible
engineering controls upon verification of their effectiveness in
reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries.

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Aug 5, 1990

Penalty

Initial $810 · Current $635 Reduced

General-duty citation text

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
required to perform repetitive motions in postures resulting in
stressors likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders:
a) Assembly Area - Employees working on various lines, including but not
limited to the no pour suction line, syringe filling line, echo line,
trachea welder position, water bottle filling, H-100 sealing line,
and Tipping line were required to perform repetitive motions in poor
posture positions, all of which resulted in stressors on the hands,
wrist, arm and shoulders which are likely to cause cumulative trauma
disorders.
ABATEMENT NOTE: While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard
rests with the employer given his superior knowledge of the operation,
some feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard
include, but are not limited to the following:
1) Set the maximum reach distances within the operator's normal reach
area to prevent the worker from having to bend or extend the upper
body. For instance, all bins of parts and materials should be within
16 (sitting) and 18 inches (standing) to the right or left of the
worker's centerline, and not more than 20 inches above the work
surface.
2) Table edges and corners should be padded. Sharp edges can restrict
the blood flow to the wrist and hands.
3) When sitting at a table or conveyor, the work height should be at an
approxiamte elbow height which can be accomplished by adjusting the
worker's chair or the work table.
4) Chairs should be designed for optimum ergonomic comfort:
- Seated work should be provided with adjustable chairs with foot
rests.
- Chairs should be padded with padded lower back supports.
- Padded arm rests should also be considered where feasible.
- Chairs need to be easily adjustable (pneumatic) in the up and down
position and the back rests should be adjustable with up and down
capabilities as well as in and out movement.
- The back rest for optimum support must be narrow enough so that the
operator's arms and rig cage do not strike it when rotated.
- Lastly, the fabric covering the chair padding should be of a woven
fabric to improve comfort and reduce heat transfer problems.
5) Standing workplace height - Optimum work height for a standing
individual is 42 inches (or in line with the elbow position).
6) Parts bins should be angled toward the operator or fitted with open
fronts for easy access for parts grasping without wrist flexion.
7) An employee training program should be instituted including the
following:
- Train workers to keep the cycle time in a range of 30 seconds to
two minutes, and keep individual steps down to ten or less.
- Provide feedback on quality of work being done, particularly on the
first few days of a new task.
- Train workers in discrete tasks first. Do not teach the whoel job
at once. Demonstrate the method and have the operator try it.
- Have a new operator practice initially off-line. Then introduce the
worker to the operation at limited time intervals (1-2 hours).
- Review training with the worker. Keep communications open.
- Video recording of the work to familiarize new employees with the
tasks and proper ways to do the work.
- Provide periodic periods for stretching and warm up, particularly
when first reporting to work and following break times.
- Employees should be educated to the signs and symptoms of
repetitive motion problems. Employees should be required to report
any symptoms to their supervisor.
Step 1
Effective administrative protection, such as employee training,
physical assessment, job rotation, etc., shall be provided as an
interim protective measure until feasible engineering or
administrative controls can be implemented or whenever such controls
fail to reduce employee exposure to nominal risk.
Step 2
Submit to the area director a written detailed plan of abatement
outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or
administrative control measures to control the risk of employee
injury due to manual lifting tasks. The plan shall include at a
minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be
consistent with the dates required by this citation:
1. Evaluation of the conditions, locations and manual lifting activities
that the employees perform at the onset of musculoskeletal injuries.
2. Evaluation of applicable control measures.
3. Procurement, installation and operation of selected control measures.
4. Monitoring to assure effective utilization of the control measures.
Step 3
Abatement shall have been completed by implementation of feasible
engineering controls upon verification of their effectiveness in
reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries.

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Penalty

Initial $420 · Current $245 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 19, 1989

Penalty

Initial $640 · Current $465 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Nov 17, 1989

Penalty

Initial $420 · Current $235 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Jan 2, 1990

Penalty

Initial $810 · Current $635 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Penalty

Initial $360 · Current $185 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Nov 5, 1989

Penalty

Initial $420 · Current $245 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Penalty

Initial $360 · Current $185 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Jan 2, 1990

Penalty

Initial $810 · Current $635 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Nov 10, 1989

Penalty

Initial $60 · Current $30 Reduced

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Dec 4, 1989

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Nov 17, 1989

Issued

Nov 2, 1989

Abate by

Nov 5, 1989