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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 1997, work-related strains and sprains, most often including the back, accounted for approximately 799,000 cases involving days away from work in private industry throughout the U.S. (BLS 1999). An additional 29,000 carpal tunnel syndrome and 18,000 tendinitis lost-workday cases occurred as a result of repetitive motion, such as typing or key entry; repetitive use of tools; and repetitive placing, grasping or moving of objects other than tools.
While precise costs of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are not known, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that upper extremity MSDs, which affect the muscles, nerves, tendons and other soft tissues of the neck, shoulder, elbow, hand, wrist and fingers, account for more than $2.1 billion in workers' compensation (WC) costs annually (MOSH). Additionally, low-back disorders impose a cost of about $11 billion annually on the WC system. AFL-CIO estimates the total cost of MSDs at $209 billion annually (AFL-CIO). Bernard reported that regardless of estimates used, the problem is significant-both in worker health and economic terms.
MAKING ERGONOMIC TEAMS EFFECTIVE
Many companies have established multi-disciplinary ergonomics teams to address rising injury rates, growing numbers of lost-time days and rising WC costs associated with MSDs. These companies recruit team members from various disciplines within the plant, which means ergonomics is often outside the normal scope of their work and job responsibilities. As a result, they may lack the skills, knowledge and experience required to effectively address ergonomic issues.
Often, the most significant challenge the facility team faces is how to assess ergonomic risk factors. It can be a challenge to determine whether manual materials handling activities present high, moderate or low risk of MSDs. It can be even more difficult to express this information to management in a manner that will impact ergonomic risk reduction decision making.
AN ERGONOMIC JOB MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
An ergonomic job measurement system (EJMS) was developed to provide a comprehensive, systematic, easy-to-use method for facility-based teams to assess workplace ergonomic risk factors. The objective of this system is to identify, evaluate and rank cost-effective ergonomic improvements, then drive their implementation to reduce the incidence of significant MSDs.
Various qualitative ergonomic risk assessment tools were evaluated to develop the EJMS (Armstrong and...