Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 93-1031-2521: C & D Corporation, Deblois, Maine

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fairfield-Estill, Cheryl ; Tanaka, Shiro ; Wild, Deanna K.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Maine Department of Human Services, an investigation was undertaken of raker's tendinitis among seasonal harvesters who raked wild blueberries in Maine for the C and D Corporation (SIC-0171) located in DeBlois, Maine. Workers comb through low lying bush (less than 10 inches high) with handheld metal rakes to scoop up the berries, lift the rake, and tilt it to pour the berries into the container. This action is repeated many times in an hour and the working period may last up to 8 or more hours a day. In the 1993 harvest for this company, 1,300 rakers were hired. A convenience sample of 134 rakers was recruited on site over a 3-day period in August. The median age was 30 years. Almost three fourths of the workers were men. About 10% were children. Moderate to severe pain was reported in the back region among 14% of the workers, in the hand/wrist by 12%, and in the elbow by 8%. On physical examinations 10% had some hand/wrist pain accompanied by a positive Phalen's or Tinel's test suggesting carpal tunnel syndrome, or a positive Finkelstein's test suggesting de Quervain's disease, a tenosynovitis of the abductor pollicis longus and the extensor pollicis brevis. Most of the workers worked in stooped posture and frequently carried loaded buckets, weighing up to 13 kilograms each. The rakes varied in size from 35 to 60 centimeters wide and 1.2 to 2.1 kilograms in weight. The force of lifting the rake was estimated at 87 newtons and the motion was repeated 32 times/minute. The authors conclude that potential musculoskeletal hazards, resulting in cumulative trauma disorders, existed at this company. The authors recommend improvements in rake design, and training measures to reduce the hazards.
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Cumulative Trauma Disorders Ergonomics Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-workers Back Pain Berry Crops, Blueberry Farms Blueberry Rakers Carpal Tunnel Syndrome CTDs CTS Cumulative-trauma-disorders Cumulative Trauma Disorders De Quervains Disease Hazard-Confirmed HETA-93-1031-2521 Musculoskeletal-system-disorders NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 1 Repetitive-work Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) Tendinitis Tenosynovitis

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9310312521
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maine ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  30 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Shannon, Steve ; Millard, Peter ; Brazalovich, Alexander ; Watkins, Kathy ; Freund, Eugene ; Ehlers, Janet
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00229496
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-115472
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 93-1031-2521, 1995 Aug ; :1-30
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  0171 - Berry crops - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9f47e31205229e1daf733677bfddfb7383830d4d686564264ed6a1e64be1320eb4384e2ed141297d021063b472fc4a6faff000bbc747664ebffc554cf38aa623
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171253/cdc_171253_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 236.58 KB ]