Common WMSD. Hazards in Your Workplace and Some Solution Ideas ( Common WMSD* Hazards in Your Workplace and Some Solution Ideas (*Work-Related Musculo-Skeletal Disorders)

This slide show outlines… …some common WMSD hazards in workplaces, and some ideas for reducing or eliminating them. Links to the following PowerPoint slide shows can be found at the appendix at the end of this slide show. A Five Step Process for Finding WMSD Hazards Recommended Exposure Limits for Preventing WMSDs

By the end of this slide show, you will be able to… Identify WMSD hazards in your workplace Locate resources and contacts for more assistance Objectives – pretty straightforward.

WMSD Hazards Some jobs include tasks which can produce injuries from: Lifting Awkward postures Forceful gripping or pinching Repetitive motions and intensive keying Hand-arm vibration These are some of the terms from workers’ comp claim summaries that they may be familiar with. Bodily reaction injuries are associated with a reaction to some event, such as reaching to grab a heavy box that is falling off a table. We use the term WMSDs to cover all of them.

WMSDs WMSDs are occupational disorders of the soft tissues: muscles tendons ligaments joints blood vessels nerves Work-related musculoskeletal disorders, or WMSDs, are injuries that occur to the soft tissues of the body – the muscles, tendons (attach muscle to bone), ligaments (attach bone to bone), joints, blood vessels and nerves. These injuries can include rotator cuff injuries and bursitis in the shoulder, epicondylitis (a form of tendinitis) in the elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist, low back pain and bursitis of the knee. WMSDs tend to occur gradually, accumulating from months or even years of work, as opposed to sudden injuries such as a broken bone due to a fall or a neck injury from a motor vehicle accident.

Hazards to watch for Lifting Awkward postures Forceful pinching, gripping Repetitive motion & Intensive keying Hand-arm vibration

Lifting The most common hazard is lifting, so we’ll cover that first.

To lower the risks of lifting… Reduce the weight Increase the weight (so people truly can’t lift the item) Use mechanical assistance Slide instead of lift Team lifting Avoid unnecessary lifting Use mobile storage Job rotation Job enlargement Bring loads as close to the body as possible before lifting them Remove obstacles Place object at a good working height Reduce the weight of the lift, by for example, reducing the capacity of the container Increase weight of load so that it requires mechanical assist Use mechanical assist such as overhead hoist, manipulator, vacuum lift, pneumatic balancer, forklift Use slides, gravity chutes to eliminate lifting Use team lifting when mechanical assistance isn’t feasible/ Also: Improve layout of work process so the need to move materials is minimized Provide handholds which increase lifting capability up to 15%

Awkward Postures

To lower the risk of awkward postures… Raise and/or tilt the work for better access Use a stool for ground level work Alternate between bending, kneeling, sitting, and squatting Use an elevated work platform or rolling stairs Use tools with longer handles Limit overhead storage to infrequently used items Bring the work down and tilt for easier access Some of the principles to reduce low work.

Forceful Pinching and Gripping

To lower the risk of forceful gripping… Use lighter tools Suspend the tool with tool counter-balancers Use longer lever arms on tools Use hand trucks, carts or conveyors instead of carrying loads Principles to reduce gripping and pinching. Also: Use power tools instead of hand tools (may not reduce force but can reduce duration) Change from a pinch to a grip or to holding objects from underneath Use lift devices such as suction cup handles, vacuum lifts, sheet lifters, etc. Minimize the need to pinch by using clamps Transport objects by placing them on carts, conveyors, or hand trucks instead of pinch-lifting Slide flat objects across surfaces instead of pinch-lifting

To lower the risk of pinching… Change from pinch to grip The upper box has cut out handles which allow a much more comfortable and less stressful grip on the box. a Power Grip: is up to 5 times stronger than Principles to reduce gripping and pinching. Also: Use power tools instead of hand tools (may not reduce force but can reduce duration) Change from a pinch to a grip or to holding objects from underneath Use lift devices such as suction cup handles, vacuum lifts, sheet lifters, etc. Minimize the need to pinch by using clamps Transport objects by placing them on carts, conveyors, or hand trucks instead of pinch-lifting Slide flat objects across surfaces instead of pinch-lifting a Pinch Grip:

Change pinching to gripping Reducing pinching… Change pinching to gripping The picture on the left shows nursery workers lifting potted plants using a pinch grip. They worked with researchers at a local university to come up with the handle shown on the right, which allows them to pick up the pots using a power grip (and without having to bend over).

Repetitive Motion and Intensive Keying

To lower the risk of Repetitive Motion and Intensive Keying… Eliminate unnecessary motions Use power tool instead of hand tools (He is using a power drill rather than a ratchet) Automate the task Enlarge the job (add tasks which don’t include repetitive motions or keying) Principles to reduce repetition. We prefer to talk about automating tasks rather than automating entire jobs, since we want to keep people employed. We’ll have an example of a solution for this a little later on in the discussion when we talk about combinations of repetition with other potential hazards.

Hand-Arm Vibration A link to a Hand-Arm Vibration database is in the appendix at the end of this presentation. When searching this database for a low vibration tool, look for the lowest VL (vibration level)

To lower the risk of Hand-Arm Vibration… Use anti-vibration gloves Isolate the vibration from the user Use low vibration tools

The WISHA Ergonomics Ideas Bank This is a searchable database with over 700 ideas for solutions to ergonomic challenges you might have The Ergonomics Ideas Bank is a comprehensive search tool containing hundreds (800+) ideas covering every major industry sector. We will use the Ideas Bank in Part 2 of the class to hunt for solutions to the issues you have determined in your investigation. A link to this web page is in the appendix at the end of this presentation

Appendix - Links Recommended Exposure Limits for Preventing WMSDs PowerPoint Ergonomics Awareness PowerPoint WISHA Ergonomics Ideas Bank Low vibration tools A Five Step Process for Finding WMSD Hazards The links here take you to the information you need to use the two calculators listed here. Showing you how to use these tools is beyond the scope of this class. Contact an L&I ergonomist