MRO Today - Ergonomic standards still a threat to manufacturers

Ergonomic standards still a threat to manufacturers

Yet, the use of ergonomically-designed tools and other preventive measures can improve productivity and cut costs while reducing injuries.

On March 20, 2001, President Bush signed a joint resolution of Congress that effectively repealed federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration ergonomics standards that went into effect two months earlier. However, any reprieve from onerous new standards is merely temporary. Just 37 days after Bush brought an official end to the previous standards, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced her decision to pursue codified standards.

"Defining the best approach for ergonomic injuries is not a simple process," said Chao. "However, guiding principles will provide a vital starting point for common understanding, a point from which consensus can be attained."

Manufacturers must still take all necessary precautions to ensure that their workers stay protected from injuries and disorders resulting from the repetitive use of improper manufacturing processes. Fortunately, by initiating preventative practices and selecting ergonomically designed tools, employers can help lessen their exposure to citation and liability.

Equally important, manufacturers can even profit from such measures. As an example, a November 2000 story in the National Safety Council's publication, Safety & Health, relates how one food ingredient manufacturer witnessed productivity gains of 20 percent in pounds-produced and a $500,000 savings in costs after ergonomic safety procedures streamlined its operations.

A complicated and costly issue
Ergonomics is the science of fitting job functions to the physical capabilities of the human body. Without proper ergonomics on the production floor, employees can be subject to musculoskeletal disorders when a mismatch arises between the physical capacity of workers and the physical demands of their occupation. Jobs that involve reaching, bending over, using continuous force, working with vibrating equipment and doing repetitive motions pose a particular risk for developing injuries and disorders.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics documented 582,300 musculoskeletal injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and back trauma, that resulted in employees missing time from work in 1999.

To protect workers from injuries caused by over-extension, repetitive motions and unnatural postural positions, OSHA has traditionally relied on existing powers to issue monetary fines to employers.

"The recent repeal of the ergonomic standards has nothing to do with the enforcement of current law," said Bill Wright, a media specialist with the Labor Department's Office of Public Affairs. "The General Duty clause, Section 5, paragraph (a) (1), of the OSHA Act of 1970 states that an employer is responsible to provide a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. Absent a specific standard, such as in the case of ergonomics, OSHA can still cite an employer using that section."

Not only is the federal government empowered to cite manufacturers, but Section 18 of the Act encourages individual states to develop and operate their own job safety and health programs.

"We will continue to enforce our ergonomic standards, regardless of what happens at the federal level," says Dean Fryer, a spokesperson within California's industrial relations department.

Aside from the threat of fines from federal and state agencies, manufacturers also must bear the brunt of increasing worker's compensation costs and man-hour production losses.

A research paper, Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace, published this year by the National Research Council estimates that the current economic burden imposed from workers' compensation expenses, lost wages and lost productivity, ranges between $45 and $54 billion annually. According to the CHUBB Group of Insurance Companies, the average American business pays almost 5.5 percent of its pre-tax corporate profits toward worker's compensation insurance alone.

Therefore, manufacturers have much to gain by assuming a proactive position. Reducing worker fatigue can improve both morale and production line consistency while reducing absenteeism, and lowering worker's compensation costs.

Viable strategies to improve ergonomics
The old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" has never rung truer than for the case of preventing ergonomic injuries in the first place. As Chao explained in testimony before the U.S. Senate on April 21, "The new century requires a new approach to the safety needs of the American labor force, an approach based on cooperation and prevention."

Since preventing ergonomic injuries relies primarily in fitting job tasks to a worker's physical ability, all prevention programs must begin with the interface between the worker and the production tools and equipment. Yet, high-output production runs common to today's manufacturing environment present a challenge, since most hand tools, for instance, are designed for only occasional use. Repetitive injuries become much more likely under such conditions.

"Typically what happens, is everything starts fine at the beginning of a shift," said Brad Mountz, vice president and general manager of Mountz Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based torque tool supplier. "In the case of an electric tool that an operator must use for eight hours a day, the worker might have it in his or her hand for three to four hours before fatigue sets in. Then, as the shift goes on, the worker starts to exhibit bad habits: not sitting up straight, not having the tool at the right plane or not maintaining a firm grip. This is when injuries occur and production mistakes take place."

However, the optimal design of workstations and tools, along with the use of mechanical assists, can go a long way toward reducing the incidence of injury while improving production processes.

For example, Mountz offers a line of "EZ-Glider" torque reaction arms specifically designed to reduce repetitive motion injuries by absorbing the weight and torque reaction of hand tools such as electric and pneumatic screwdrivers.

By duplicating biomechanical ranges-of-motion normal to the human body, such ergonomic assists reduce joint stress. Mountz' linear arms, for instance, can sustain a maximum torque of over 22 ft.-lbs. Fielding the recoil forces that the human wrist normally absorbs, an anti-rotating clamp prevents torque-arm rotation. An available extended arm shaft expands the working range of the linear arm, thus reducing rotator cuff and similar shoulder injuries.

Articulated torque arms, with the ability to bend and rotate like an elbow, provide a 360-degree range, allowing quick rundown of multiple fasteners. These flexible arms accept a variety of tools including pistol grips, angle nutrunners, and inline electric screwdrivers up to 59 ft.-lbs. of torque. To reduce stress on the human body even further, Mountz has servo-assisted torque arms that automatically lower the driver. Operators push a trigger and pneumatic action glides the driver downward, improving accuracy and consistency with secure perpendicular movements.

"Our goal in developing any new tool is to evaluate its ergonomic aspects by seeking input from employers and employees alike," said Mountz. "For example, workers have told us that an egg-shaped handle, with two different tactile materials, leads to a more comfortable grip. We also started making handles with a larger diameter than in the past; from 1 inch to 1-3/4 inches. We found that if the surface area has a larger grip, the operator is less likely to squeeze as hard. This can reduce the likelihood of wrist injuries."

The proper selection of dynamic torque tools helped improve worker comfort and productivity for Quickie Designs, a manufacturer of motorized and manual wheelchairs. To enhance the comfort and safety of their workers, production management at Quickie Designs chose Mountz pulse tools for their assembly line.

“We have used Mountz tools in the past and found them to be ergonomically friendly.” said Kent Boye, manufacturing engineer for Quickie Designs. “Their pulse tools create less vibration than impact tools and we have fewer instances of repetitive-use problems or carpal-tunnel syndrome.”

The availability of ergonomically-optimized devices puts all manufacturers on notice that they have the means to meet the "general duty" standard imposed by the Labor Department.

"Conceivably, if someone used a tool repeatedly and developed carpal tunnel syndrome as a result, and if there was a way to change that tool to improve the way that employee was having to work with that tool, yet OSHA re-inspected and the change was not made to correct the problem, then OSHA could cite the employer," said Wright.

An ergonomic mindset helps ensure safer conditions
Besides the proper selection of ergonomically correct tools and workstations, manufactures should adopt enterprise wide programs that increase the awareness of ergonomics within administrative offices as well as on the production floor.

In a positioning statement currently in effect by the American Society of Safety Engineers, the society believes that successful ergonomic systems incorporate employee participation that includes discussion across all levels and directions of an organization.

The society also recommends the avoidance of a one-size-fits-all approach. Every ergonomic concern requires its own evaluation, ideally performed by a person competent in such issues. When indicated, control measures should be designed to eliminate ergonomic stresses specific to the results of the evaluation. Finally, effective follow-up mechanisms must be provided.

The CHUBB Group of Insurance Companies offers the following additional advice to reduce workers' compensation premiums from cumulative trauma injuries:

• form a permanent safety committee

• perform a job safety analysis for every job

• perform routine inspections, even if no hazards have been reported

• immediately correct any deficiencies

• conduct an accident investigation for each incident, even "near misses."

"Ergonomics is more than just treating a stress injury as an isolated occurrence," said Mountz. "If you have an operator who complains of a sore wrist, numb fingers or tired shoulders, then resolving just that individual's problem is a very short-sighted solution. Eventually, every operator doing that same or similar job is going to experience the same symptoms. You might as well solve the problem across the board."

The productivity bonus
An organizational mindset that embraces the prevention of ergonomic injuries does more than decrease exposure to government fines and worker's compensation cost increases; it can benefit the productivity of a manufacturer.

"It's important to keep the big picture in mind," said Mountz. "Look at your operators as proponents of your business. Anything you can do to make them comfortable will improve the productivity of your business in the long run."

For example, safety was the motivating factor that first led Boeing to investigate Mountz's torque control equipment for connecting the upper wing structure of C-17s to the main structure. Inaccessibility and the high effort required to set up and tighten the bolts put operators at risk due to fatigue and possible tool slippage.

“Pros” Grimes, principal technical specialist for Boeing’s Long Beach military division, describes the situation.

“It's a connection that’s difficult to get to because of the surrounding structure and it requires about 460 ft.-lbs. of torque. When we used to do it by hand, it took two employees with breaker bars, manual torque multipliers, and wooden blocks to brace it all up. Using a Mountz pneumatic tool turned out to be not only safer, but faster.”

Prevention of ergonomic injuries is an economic necessity
Manufacturers wishing to survive in the coming years must fully embrace preventative measures to ergonomic injuries. The issue is not going away.

"We at the Department of Labor definitely want employers to ensure a safe environment for their employees, in every way possible," said Sue Hensley, a public information officer for OSHA. "The secretary has been meeting with business and labor leaders to come up with a defined approach for dealing with injuries. It is very high on our priority list, and very much on the radar screen here."

Fortunately, efforts to reduce injuries are often rewarded with increases in the bottom line.

"By promptly taking care of ergonomic issues in the workplace, there's always the benefit of reducing workers comp' claims and reducing time away from work by employees because of injury," said Fryer. "It would be advantageous for employers to spend a little time and expense up front to take care of these issues and keep themselves from falling into greater expense later on."

Under such light, manufacturers can view ergonomic standards as a boon, not bane.

Within its ergonomic position statement, ASSE states that efficient and effective ergonomic systems actually benefit the American private sector. Eliminating ergonomic hazards increases productivity, quality, profits and the country's ability to compete on a global level.

For more information on Mountz's line of ergonomically-optimized products, e-mail or visit www.etorque.com.