Use of participatory ergonomics teams to address musculoskeletal hazards in the red meat packing industry
✍ Scribed by J. Steven Moore; Arun Garg
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 569 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0271-3586
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Participatory ergonomics teams from two departments ( f a pork slaughtering plant analvzed musculoskeletal hazards and proposed ergonomics solutions for several jobs in the plant. The jobs were targeted based on associution with ( I large number o f injuries, one or more partic:irlarly severe injuries, high workers' compensation expenses, andor high turnover plus absence of obvious solutions to abc:e the hazards. The teams used a structured problemsolving method that was generally derived~from principles associated with quali5 improvement processes. Workers perjorming the targeted jobs were involved in-the problem-solving process, e\sen i f the)! were not members of the team. The effectiveness of each team was assessed and compared in terms ofthe number of problem jobs addressed and feedback from team members. One team addressed (111 nine of its targeted jobs; the other team addressed eight of 12 targeted jobs. Feedback from team members regarding their teams' methods and performance was generally ,favoruble. The mujor obstacle to effective team functioning in this project was the scheduling of meetings. There were also some obstacles related to team leadership. Overall, this project demonstrated that the use of purticipatov ergonomics teams that rely on structured problem-solving methods are able to work effectively to address musculoskeletal hazards, especially related to the upper extremities, in the red meat pocking industp.