Desktop Ergonomics

November 30, 2009

The Associated Press

DAKOTA CITY - Tyson Foods has been working with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union for more than 20 years to make the company's meatpacking plants safer.

Tyson and the union say they have been working since 1989 to apply ergonomic principles to slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants. The program has helped reduce injuries like strains and sprains at Tyson's plants.

Because of the program, Tyson has installed equipment like height-adjustable work stations, bought lighter-weight saws and lowered the height of the overhead chains and conveyors.

The lessons learned in the ergonomics program were used in the design of an addition to Tyson's Dakota City plant that was built in 2006.

February 19, 2009
The estimated direct U.S. workers compensation costs for the most disabling workplace injuries and illnesses in 2006 were $48.6 billion, according to the 2008 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.

[9. The repetitive motion category dropped to ninth rank this year (from seventh place in 2005). This category, which has had the most significant drops of any category over the 9 years of Index reporting, captured 4 percent of the total injury burden and cost industry $2 billion in 2006 (as compared to 1998 when repetitive motion was ranked fifth and comprised 6.3 percent of the total U.S. injury burden). ]

Produced annually, the Workplace Safety Index identifies the leading causes of the most disabling U.S. workplace injuries based on data reported from 1998 (the baseline year for Workplace Safety Index data) through the most recent year for which data are available – in this case 2006. The 2008 Index also captures cost trends for the overall and leading causes of the most disabling injuries from 1998 through 2006, with “most disabling” defined as those injuries that cause an employee to miss six or more days from work.

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February 4, 2009

"Ergonomic guidelines are not always followed correctly because some companies believe that following them will either slow down operators or will cost too much to implement. “Unfortunately, [those types of companies don’t] always understand the potential benefit of following the guidelines,” says Thomas Waters, Ph.D., chief engineer of human factors and ergonomics research at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, Washington, DC). “Often, someone needs to show them that following guidelines will be cost-effective before they will implement a change.”

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January 22, 2009

Michigan’s proposal for a mandatory ergonomics standard survived a death blow from business groups in 2006. In January 2009, it’s back on track, and could be in force this year. 

The state's regulators voted unanimously to advance it on January 14, despite opposition from the business community. Its supporters maintain the rule will reduce preventable injuries that cost employers millions in worker's compensation and lost time. Opponents argue it will raise the cost of doing business at a time many employers are struggling because of the state’s ailing economy. 

They prevailed in 2006. Michigan lawmakers passed a bill to prevent the state from adopting the rule in 2006. 

The unanimous vote by the General Industry Safety Standards Commission and the Occupational Health Standards Commission increases the odds that efforts to derail the standard won’t succeed this time round. 

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December 2008

Discussing the future of OSHA and potential changes to the safety industry in general under Barack Obama during a Dec. 9 webinar sponsored by the American Society of Safety Engineers, former NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard and former OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor John Henshaw agreed that a return to a federal ergonomics standard similar to the one promulgated during the Clinton era was "unlikely."

"We need to do more to educate employers and workers on ergonomics," said Howard, who also is the former head of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.  [read more...]

November 2008
In the wake of Barack Obama’s election, U.S. industry should brace itself for a re-emphasis on ergonomics in the workplace.  We are about to enter the era of “Ergobamanomics,” predicts senior editor Austin Weber, coining the phrase in his November 6 post on AssemblyBlog, a function of Assembly magazine which serves the manufacturing product assembly market.

[read more...]

Among the membership's top OSHA-specific public policy issues are: a combustible dust standard, ergonomics standard, cranes and derricks standard, silica standard, and indoor air quality. [read more...]