OSHA Inspection: GREAT NORTHERN PAPER INC.

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Mar 31, 1991

Penalty

Initial $1,000 · Current $500 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
serious injury from lifting tasks without effective administrative or
engineering controls:
Grinding Room - Employees performing the wood poling and grinderman
tasks were exposed to an increased risk of musculoskeletal injury.
Wood Polers manually aligned the four foot logs of wood in the water
filled troughs using a 10 foot pick-pole. Approximately 4,300 logs were
pushed and pulled down the troughs per worker, per shift requiring
steady reaching, jabbing, pushing or pulling motions of the shoulders
and arms, twisting of the wrists, and bending of the back at an average
rate of over 20 and up to 50 motions per minute for over seven hours by
each wood poler. Additionally, the Wood Poler "on the Bridge" removed
the long wood which weighed in excess of 45 to 100 pounds from the
trough to the bridge at a rate of approximately one per minute. This
20" lift, as analysed by the NIOSH Workpractices Guide for Manual
Lifting, exceeded the action level of 40 pounds.
Grinderman manually removed the logs from the troughs and filled the
grinder pockets at an average rate of 4,300 logs per worker, per shift
for seven and a half hours. This required steady extension and flexion
of the arm, ulnar and radial deviations of the wrist, and twisting of
the back at an average rate of approximately 10 and up to 35 per
minute as the grinderman speared the logs with the hand-held pickerson,
dragged the logs out of the trough, and placed them in the grinder
pocket behind them. Each log had an average weight of 43 pounds, with a
maximum weight approaching 100 pounds.
No engineering controls had been implemented to reduce the ergonomic
hazards of these jobs.
Inadequate administrative controls had been implemented. Employees had
not been rotated out of ergonomically stressful positions; in fact they
were allowed to work double shifts. Additionally, employees were not
added to reduce the overall workload each employee incurred. Back
school training was non-mandatory and had been received by only one
third of the work force. This training was not adequately specific to
be applicable to the unique hazards of the poling and grinding tasks.
lastly, these workers had not been medically screened to determine their
fitness or risk for ergonomic injury.
Wood Poler Injury Statistics;
The lost work day injury rate (LWDI) calculated for the 60,984 Utility
B hours in the Grinding Room in 1987 was 121.34 or almost 30 times the
national average of 4.1 Over 75% of these cases were due to ergonomic
injuries. In 1988, the LWDI rate of the Wood Polers was 108.23 or 26
times the national average; were ergonomic injuries.
Since 1987, there have been 68 lost or restricted work day cases for the
Utility B/Wood Poler which have involved over 3,300 lost or restricted
work days. 43% of these cases have involved the wrist, forearm, and hand
22; the low back; and 16; the shoulder girdle, middle and upper back,
upper arm and elbow. Low back cases have resulted in a total of over
1,300 lost or restricted work days; injuried to the wrist, forearm and
hand have involved over 1,100 lost or restricted work days.
New worker orientation has been inadaquate. Of the nine summer hires
added on or after 6/7/89, 22% were injured with significant lost or
restricted work time within one month of wood poling.
Grindermen injury Statistics
The LWDI rate for the 52,272 Utility A hours in the Grinding Room in
1987 was 42.09 or more than 10 times the national average; 100% of these
were ergonomic in nature. In 1988, the rate for the grindermen was 76.52
or almost 20 times the national average; 80% of these were ergonomic.
Since 1987, there have been a total of 47 lost or restricted work day
cases involving more than 800 lost or restricted work days. 30% of these
cases has resulted from injuries to the low back; another 30% were from
injuries to the shoulder girdle, middle and upper back, wrist, forearm,
and hand. More than 700 days have been lost or restricted due to low
back injury.
General Grinding Room Injury Statistics
The positions of Grinderman and Wood Poler represent 7% of the total
work force at the East Millinocket mill with 52 full time workers. Yet
from 1987 through 1988, these workers incurred almost 30% of the total
mill lost or restricted work day cases with more than 36% of the number
of lost or restricted work days. Almost half of the workers out on
workers' compensation as of 6/29/89 were injured, reinjured, or
originally injured performing the poling or grinding tasks. Since 1987,
there have been over 60 different employees incurring ergonomic injuries
due to poling or grinding.
ABATEMENT NOTE:
STEP 1- Effective administrative protection, such as employee training,
physical capacity and fitness for duty evaluations, job rotation, etc.
and interim engineering controls shall be provided as interim
protective measures until permanent engineering controls are implemented
While the ultimate resposibility for correcting the hazards rest with
the employer given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and
acceptable interim administrative and engineering controls to reduce the
ergonomic stress of the Wood Polers and the Grindermen include but are
not limited to:
Administrative Controls:
1) Regulary train the Wood Polers, Grindermen, and front-line foremen on
the ergonomic hazards specific to these jobs. They should be aware of
the first signs and symptoms of these injuries. Teach them
ergonomically sound work practices they can use to avoid injury. For
the Wood Polers, arms, elbows, and hands should be kept close to the
center line of the body. Bending, reaching and twisting should be
avoided at all costs. The pick pole of the appropriate handedness
should be chosen to avoid flexion of the top or bottom hand. The
bottom hand should be used in a manner to avoid extension and
supination. For the Grindermen, ambidexterity should be encouraged
with an adequate break-in period scheduled for the untrained shoulder
arm and hand. The weighted, twisting motion of the back should be
prohibited. They should learn to use their legs more and their backs
and shoulders less to help them generate the force needed. Both
groups of workers should be trained to pace themselves and to avoid
sudden movements.
2) Develop minimal cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility criteria
for the Wood Poler's and Grinderman's positions. All employees should
be screened for their fitness and medical history which may pre
dispose them to ergonomic injury. (The force required on these jobs
should not exceed 30% of the workers' maximal strength).
3) Reduce the overall stress each employee experiences by rotating
workers in from jobs requiring different physical demands or by
increasing the number of employees engaged in these jobs. Adequate
rest must be provided. (If Wood poling requires a metabolic load of 8
kcal/min, then their daily work exposure to this load should not
exceed 150 minutes.) The practice of working double shifts as Wood
Polers or Grindermen should be prohibited.
4) Develop optimal ergonomically sound work practices for handling the
long and short wood. The short wood should not be thrown by the wood
polers as this generates additional ergonomic stress. Employees
lifting the long wood should work together using proper lifting
techniques.
5) Provided new or current employees who have been off the job for more
than two weeks with a scheduled break-in period.
6) Develop a system whereby foremen and workers are motivated to use
ergonomically sound work practices. Foremen and workers should be
regularly evaluated and disciplined on their unsound work practices.
7) Surveil the workers on a regular basis to ensure they are not
developing the early signs of ergonomic injury. Retraining,
rescheduling, or reassignment may be in order.
Interim Engineering Controls:
1) Reduce the frequency Wood Polers must lift the long wood from the
troughs by reducing the percentage of long wood accepted from the
contractors and conveyed to the block tanks. (NOTE: If the long wood
is manually removed on-site prior to delivery to the block tanks,
this ergonomic stress will only be transferred to another group of
workers.)
2) Increase the frequency of block tank cleaning to prevent the
accumulation of "dead heads" and to reduce the extreme bending,
reaching and pulling the Wood Polers currently endure when
negotiating the floating logs over the "dead heads". Since 1988, the
tanks have been cleaned on the average of only once every 100 days.
(NOTE: Manual cleaning of the tanks creates another ergonomically
stressful task. Where feasible, materials handling equipment should
be used. Additionally, employees who have worked an ergonomically
stressful job that day should not be permitted to work a "double"
cleaning the tanks.)
3) Reduce the height of the lift the wood Polers incur in removing the
long and short wood from the river-side troughs by lowering the
bridges to as low as is feasible. Currently, the downstream crossover
bridge is 13" off the water, whereas the position "a" bridge is 20",
and the "flying bridge" (the bridge which extends from the walkway
over the two 52" troughs) is 25" off the water. These bridges could
be lowereed 7" and 12", respectively.
4) Cange the orientation of the position "A" bridge so that the long and
short wood can be removed from the river-side trough to a platform
either to the right or the left with a rowing motion. Currently,
removal can only be performed by a weighted twist to the Wood Poler's
whereas the opportunity for right or left handedness should be
provided and the twisting componets should be removed.
5) Increase the ease with which the long wood is removed by the Wood
Poler form the river-side trough by providing ramps and/or rollers
on the position "A" bridge. (note: Safe footing must be assured and
the open sided floor guarded as feasible.)
6) Ensure the smooth flow of the logs in the troughs and block tanks by
removing obstacles (i.e. boards and brackets, corner braces,
imperfections in the concrete) by covering the working surfaces with
a continuous, smooth steel surface. This would prevent the logs from
catching and jamming which in turn would reduce the effort of the
Wood Poler.
7) Reduce the overall effort of the Wood Poler by ensuring that water
height and flow, including the jet sprays are maintained as high as
possible but not so high as to induce jamming.
8) Ensure that the Wood Polers are familiar with the operating condition
of the poles they use and that they are adequately maintainted. This
could be accomplished by providing personalized poles and a pole
storage cabinet.
9) Reduce the weight of the pickeroom to as low as feasible by reducing
the size of the head. A reduction of only 3 ounces reduces the total
load lifted by the Grindermen by more than 800 pounds over the
workshift.
10) Reduce the handle diameter of the pickeroon from 3 1/2" and 6 1/2"
at the butt to as smell as is structurally feasible ultimately to
1 1/4" to 1 3/4" with the length to width cross-sectional profile of
the oval to 1:1.5 or 1:2.0. Remove the lacquer finish on the handle
to ensure a better grip.
STEP 2 - Submit to the area Director a written, detailed plan of
abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of the interim
and administrative measures to control employee injury.
STEP 3 - Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of the
abatement outling a schedule for the implementation of the permanent
engineering controls which will remove employees from the ergonomic
hazards of this work.
STEP 4 - Abatement shall be complete upon the automation of these work
tasks and employees are removed from the ergonomic hazards of this
work.

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $400 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Dec 7, 1989

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $550 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $700 · Current $350 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $540 · Current $400 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Jan 15, 1990

Penalty

Initial $720 · Current $500 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Dec 7, 1989

Penalty

Initial $450 · Current $300 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 11, 1989

Penalty

Initial $630 · Current $440 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 1, 1989

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $550 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 1, 1989

Penalty

Initial $630 · Current $440 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 27, 1989

Penalty

Initial $540 · Current $380 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 11, 1989

Penalty

Initial $600 · Current $420 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 11, 1989

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 3, 1989

Penalty

Initial $1,000 · Current $800 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 16, 1989

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $400 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 16, 1989

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 16, 1989

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $550 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 11, 1989

Penalty

Initial $600 · Current $420 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Mar 30, 1991

Penalty

Initial $800 · Current $400 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Oct 11, 1989

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 30, 1989

Penalty

Initial $600 · Current $300 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 15, 1989

Penalty

Initial $600 · Current $420 Reduced

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 15, 1989

Issued

Oct 6, 1989

Abate by

Nov 15, 1989