Ergonomic Evaluation of Loaders and Hashers at a Postal Processing and Distribution Center

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lu, Ming-Lun ; Ramsey, Jessica G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  On March 16, 2007, NIOSH received an HHE request from the management at the USPS Seattle P&DC to evaluate potential ergonomic hazards among workers at the Seattle, Washington P&DC. The redesign of the East Dock Hash Delivery Conveyor System area and a previous HHE request by employees prompted the request. During November 27-28, 2007, NIOSH investigators held an opening conference with representatives from USPS management and the National Postal Mail Handlers Local 316. NIOSH ergonomic specialists toured the hash delivery conveyor system (HDCS) area to observe loading and hashing (sorting) tasks specified in the request. The ergonomics evaluation indicated that workers are exposed to risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorders due to heavy lifts and awkward postures. The employees were at elevated risk of injury while performing loading tasks, as measured by the revised NIOSH lifting equation (RNLE) and the University of Michigan's 3-dimensional static strength prediction program (3DSSPP). Recommendations for reducing the risk of injury include improving the heights and horizontal reach distances of the lifts during loading and reorganization of the hashing stations.
• Subjects:
  Cumulative Trauma Disorders Ergonomics Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Awkward Postures Cumulative-trauma Cumulative-trauma-disorders Lifting Manual-lifting Materials-handling Musculoskeletal-system-disorders OSHA Region 10 Postal Service Repetitive-work Repetitive Motions Sorting/Hashing USPS

  More +
• Source:
  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 2007-0170-3070, 2008 Sep ; :1-15
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA200701703070
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Washington ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  24 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Evans, Stefanie M. ; Galloway, Ellen ; Smith, Robin
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034676
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2009-102126
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2008]. Health Hazard Evaluation Report: Ergonomic evaluation of loaders ; and hashers at a postal processing and distribution center, Seattle, Washington. ; 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, NIOSH HETA No. 2007-0170-3070,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  491110 - Postal Service - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:649e1fe3d94866ea98338368ae69ef981cb231c477c712440fbed1f34f7077da2492f15646565f071f03e5adad79665b502095fbec4dae4e578c9412339664f1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172565/cdc_172565_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.01 MB ]