Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 94-0425-2513: Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Savannah, Georgia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fatone, Peter ; MacDonald, Leslie A. ; Tubbs, Randy L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from management, an evaluation was conducted of pneumatic handheld power tools for hand/arm vibration at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, (SIC-3721), Savannah, Georgia. This company designed and manufactured private jet airplanes. Nearly 1,000 workers were assigned to manufacturing and assembly operations. Almost all use pneumatic handheld power tools at some point during a typical workday. Vibration measurements were taken on 30 tools that were used throughout the facility. The vibration of 19 tools exceeded all exposure time zones recommended. The vibration levels of the remaining 11 tools fell into one of the suggested time zones, ranging from one half hour to 8 hours of daily exposure. Of the ten tools marketed as either ergonomic or vibration reduced, nine possessed lower vibration levels than their conventional counterparts. The author concludes that for those workers using tools which exceeded the hand/arm vibration limits, there was a potential health hazard. Continued use of these tools without intervention may cause the workers to develop hand/arm vibration syndrome. The author recommends that conventional pneumatic tools should be replaced with vibration reduced tools, and vibration levels should be monitored for new and old tools. The company should institute a medical monitoring program, and workers should be given breaks from vibration exposures.
• Subjects:
  Aerospace Medicine Aircraft Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Safety Vibration
• Keywords:
  Acceleration Aerospace-workers Assembly-line-workers Ergonomics Hand-arm Vibration Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome Hand-tools HAV Hazard-Confirmed HETA-94-0425-2513 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 4 Pneumatic Tools Power-tools Vibration-exposure

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9404252513
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  70 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00229116
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-106943
• 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 94-0425-2513, 1995 Jul ; :1-63
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3721 - Aircraft - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:aeb92ba11fefee7f84c640c6b03171a27316df3206fc5727a179f5153730f9bca8fb0dda3b00cf3263477e85a954c149fd7a925832b3109e05cd26ea818241e8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171257/cdc_171257_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.59 MB ]