Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-329-1246: Social Security Administration; Baltimore, Maryland

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bierbaum, Donna S. ; Cohen, Barbara G. ; Dainoff, Marvin J. ; Smith, Michael J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker complaints of blurred vision, headache, dizziness, neck and back pain, and nausea were investigated on July 13 to 16, 1982 at the Social Security Administration (SIC-9190) in Baltimore, Maryland. The investigation was requested by an unspecified individual on behalf of about 300 workers exposed to video display terminals (VDTs). Ergonomic evaluations were made, workers were given symptom questionnaires, and 32 employees were given visual function tests. Illumination levels at the workstations were highly variable, glare was a significant problem, keyboard heights were improper, and work chairs could not be adjusted adequately. Characters on the VDT screens occasionally were blurry, flickering, moving, or presented in insufficient contrast. The workers reported a wide variety of health complaints, mostly involving visual and muscular discomfort. Visual defects were found in 12 of the 32 workers tested. The authors conclude that potential health problems due to VDT use do exist at this facility. They recommend workstation adjustment, routine VDT repair and maintenance, and visual testing for VDT operators.
• Subjects:
  Ergonomics Eye Fatigue Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Sense Organs Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Clinical-symptoms Environmental-stress Eye-function-tests Federal Government Hazards-Confirmed Health Complaints HETA-82-329-1246 Job Stress Mental-stress NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers OSHA Region 3 Physical-stress VDT Video Display Terminal Visual-perception Visual Disorders Work-analysis Work-practices

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA823291246
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  25 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00127585
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-173822
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 82-329-1246, 1983 Jan ; :1-23
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9199 - General government, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:723dbfe90f0156f5bc51128f7dc69d026c679b7b939e9625684d63228c6790f12eaffc5e827a286d4a49994cbf21465a9412f75672c68b6c7381f98b2798d218
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173068/cdc_173068_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.45 MB ]