Reducing Risk Factors for the Development of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Problems in Nursery Work

Details

• Personal Author:
  Duraj V ; Faucett J ; Janowitz I ; Kabashima J ; Meyers JM ; Miles JA ; Tejeda DG
• Description:
  Results that were part of a four year intervention to reduce the incidence of work related musculoskeletal disorders among workers performing selected, highly repetitive lifting and carrying tasks at nurseries were presented. Injury and first aid records were reviewed, all jobs were described and screened for ergonomic risk factors, and workers and supervisors were asked to identify difficult job tasks to identify high risk job functions. Several risk factors were identified that were associated with the development of work related musculoskeletal problems. They included highly repetitive bending and twisting of the trunk, high force in a pinch grip, awkward postures, static muscle effort, contact stress from the edge of the containers on the sides of the fingers and thumb, high energy demand, and cold temperatures during the early morning hours. Several interventions were suggested. Ergonomic methods and approaches developed in other industries were found to have practical applications to agricultural work. Ergonomic risk factors were targeted and either eliminated or significantly reduced through engineering interventions that were acceptable to workers and employers. Reduction of exposure to selected risk factors resulted in reduced incidence of musculoskeletal disorders and symptoms. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Ergonomics Farmers Fatigue Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Gardeners Manual-lifting Muscle-function Muscle-tension Musculoskeletal-system-disorders NIOSH-Cooperative-Agreement NIOSH-Publication Physical-exercise Physical-stress Repetitive-work
• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9-14
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00241258
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 1998 Jan; 13(1):9-14
• Editor(s):
  Schneider S
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Davis
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19940930
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• End Date:
  19980929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d0e69833d6419ac2ff96aee8a7573725e12d5590fe0346cf2608e503186b67cf24c74f3bac2b020c3bc5cffcddb6a54dad84c73b0077942b67779f557ce10cfc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198083/cdc_198083_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 987.06 KB ]