OSHA Inspection: CLEAR SPRINGS FOODS, INC.

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Dec 19, 1989

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 required to
perform repetitive motions in postures resulting in stressors, such as
ulnar deviation with extension and supination, pinch grip and extension
with supination of the left hand and ulnar deviation of the right wrist
(for the inspectors) and shoulder flexion and back flexion (for the
feeders), which were likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders:
a) Evisceration Department - Employees feeding the evisceration machines
employees inspecting the eviscerated trout and employees manually
gutting the specialty trout.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the
employer, given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and
acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are not
limited to, the following:
Abatement Recommendations:
1) Modifications of the evisceration machine feed troughs, such as
raising the trough heights and slopes, to eliminate or reduce the
flexing of the back and shoulders of the feeders.
2) Installation of evisceration machines for the trout which are
presently eviscerated manually to reduce or eliminate the stress on
the manual gutting operation.
3) Modification of the eviscerated trout trough level, so that
inspectors and manual gutters do not reach down, bend down, etc.,
4) Modification of the inspectors stools, to allow for individual
adjustments in height and for more comfortable contoured seating.
5) Provide a worker manipulated suction device to remove the remaining
contents of the eviscerated trout cavity, and reduce manual exertion
by the inspectors.
6) Implementation of training, information and medical programs which
would include:
a) Employee training in the recognition of early symptoms and
prevention of cumulative trauma disorders;
b) New employee informational programs on the subject discusses above;
and,
c) Medical programs to diagnose early symptoms of cumulative trauma
disorders and reduce the incidence rates.

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 2, 1992

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 required to
perform repetitive motions in postures resulting in stressors, such as
ulnar deviation of the hands, wrist flexion and neck flexion, and
shoulder flexion, which were likely, to cause cumulative trauma
disorders:
a) Boning Department - The "boners", manually removing rib cages
(and occasionally fins).
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the
employer, given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and
acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are not
limited to, the following:
Abatement Recommendations:
1) Modification of the "boners" chairs so that they lock onto position
at the table, and reduce stress on the boner's legs and back.
2) Modification of the conveyors, such as reducing their height, to
reduce the shoulder flexion involved in tossing the "boned" trout
into the bins.
3) Evaluate the use of double edged knives and the removal of the
scouring on knife blades, to reduce wrist exertion and (hand) ulnar
deviation in the rib cage removal operation.
4) Encourage the use of a single glove (per hand) to reduce the force
needed to grip knives, and trout.
5) Evaluate the feasibility of a rotating table surface that will allow
for reduced upper extremity motion by the boner during a cut, and
during the repositioning of a trout for a "second side" cut.
6) Train the boner's to make the cuts with minimal wrist flexion and
ulnar deviation of the hands. Note: A good example of acceptable
cutting methods was demonstrated by a left handed worker who was
found to use minimal wrist flexion and hand deviation in her cuts.
7) Implementation of training, medical and informational programs as
described in Citation 1, Item 1.

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Dec 19, 1989

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 re-
quired to perform repetitive motions in postures resulting in stressors,
such as high grip force (pinch grip) and ulnar deviation of the left
hand, high grip force and compression on the palm (or palm side of
thumbs) due to the hilt guard of the knife, and ulnar deviation of the
right hand; and shoulder flexion which were likely to cause cumulative
trauma disorders:
(a) Fillet Department - the employees removing fins from
trout.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the
employer, given his superior knowledge of the operation, feasible and
acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are
not limited to, the following:
Abatement Recommendations:
1. Implement the use of mechanical knives, such as the
"whizard" type, to reduce wrist and hand exertion in
cutting fins.
2. Use of short blade knives to achieve goals similar to #1.
3. Reduction of the (de-finned trout) conveyor height, to
reduce shoulder flexion in the tossing of trout onto
the conveyor.
4. Modification of the workstation so that the trout are
fed onto the fillet department employee's work table,
and reduces the employee's need to bend over, and
across the body, to reach the trout.
5. Evaluation of mechanical clamps to be used on the trout
tails while fin removal takes place, to reduce pinch
grip force.
6. Implementation of medical training and informational
programs described earlier.

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Dec 19, 1989

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 required to
perform repetitive motions in postures resulting in stressors,such as
left arm static exertion, compression of the left palm each time the
activation lever is hit and pinch grip with the right hand (for the
bagger operator), shoulder flexions (for the fish scale operators),
which were likely to cause cumulative trauma disorders:
a) Packaging Department - The Remco Bagger operator, and scale
operators.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard rests with the
employer, given his superior knowledge of the operations, feasible and
acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard include, but are
not limited to, the following:
1) Use of a light beam actuated control or other automatic cycling of
the bagger operation.
2) Redesign of the workstation so the operator faces the bagger and the
fish and control lever are within easy reach to relive the current
extension of the arms and body.
3) Allow for seated work to relieve back stress.
4) Redesign the feed bucket so that fish slide down a chute for easy
feed in the bagger, to relieve back and shoulder stress.
5) The lowering of the fish scale height to table level to relieve the
shoulder flexion of the weighers.
6) Implementation fo the training, medical and informational programs
described earlier.

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $100

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $100 · Current $100

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 28, 1989

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 28, 1989

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 6, 1989

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 6, 1989

Issued

Feb 23, 1989

Abate by

Mar 28, 1989