Post Midterms

Question 1

Poultry Industry Document: What are the key parts of an Ergonomics process?

Answer 1

Management support, employee involvement, effective training, periodic review of injury and illness reports to help identify problems, encouraging and utilizing early reports of injuries, implementing effective solutions, and evaluating progress.

Question 2

Poultry Industry Document: Who should receive training as part of this process?

Answer 2

All employees should receive training. They should be aware of ergonomics and its benefits, able to identify ergonomics-related concerns in the workplace, taught how to minimize the risk of injury and understand the importance of reporting early symptoms of MSD.

Question 3

Poultry Industry Document: Why should we encourage the early reporting of injuries?

Answer 3

Diagnose before injury is serious, evaluate jobs as needed.
This information helps direct the efforts to address ergonomic risk factors as well as guide healthcare providers in making return-to-work and light-duty work decisions.

Question 4

Poultry Industry Document: With regards to injury management, OSHA has several suggested practices, what are these?

Answer 4

Accurate injury and illness recordkeeping, early recognition and reporting, systematic evaluation and referral, conservative treatment, conservative return-to-work, systematic monitoring of employees’ health, additional use of medical resources and training.

Question 5

Poultry Industry Document: What types of administration solutions are described in this document?

Answer 5

Sharpening tools for cutting to reduce applied force to get the job done.
Use rotation schedule to reduce exposure to temperatures.
Staffing floaters to provide breaks.
Assign experienced trainer for evaluation through the conditioning period.
Allow pauses to rest fatigued muscles.
Use appropriate clothing for temperatures.
Cross-training for support during peak production, breaks and job enlargement.
Perform routine and preventative maintenance on a schedule to assure that equipment is working properly.

Question 6

Poultry Industry Document: What types of engineering solutions are described that you think would be applicable to industries other than poultry processing?

Answer 6

Tools - for wrist postures.
Workstations - Getting closer to items, fixtures, tilting devices, chutes, scales, shackles, mandrills, seats, work surface heights.
Manual materials handling - hoppers, carts, hand trucks, pallet jacks, lift tables, racks and shelves.

Question 7

Manual Material Handling Document: How can you make manual lifting or lowering easier?

Answer 7

Plan workflow to eliminate unnecessary lifts.
Organize work so the physical demands are work pace increase gradually.
Minimize the distance loads are lifted and lowered.
Position pallet loads of materials at a height that allows workers to lift and lower within their pallet zone.
Avoid manually lifting or lowering loads to or from the floor by using shelves or use a forklift.
Tag loads that are unstable or heavy.
Reduce frequency of lifting by rotating workers.
Clear space to improve access to materials or products.
Wear appropriate equipment.

Question 8

Manual Material Handling Document: What are some different ways to make the emptying or filling or containers easier?

Answer 8

Add extra handles for better grip and control.
Support the container on or against fixed objects while pouring the content.
Use a removable plate or work surface to support the sack and pour contents through the screen.
Use a cut out work surface so that you can get closer to the container.
Use a pail tipper to empty a container.

Question 9

Manual Material Handling Document: How can you make it easier to carry things?

Answer 9

Plan workflow to eliminate unnecessary carrying.
Slide, push, or roll instead.
Organize work so that the physical demands and work pace increase gradually.
Reduce the distances that loads are moved to a minimum and use equipment for long trips.
Tage unstable or heavy loads, test the load for stability.
Reduce weight by dividing the load.
Repack containers as a temporary measure for heavy objects.
Reduce frequency and amount of time workers carry materials.
Follow same guidelines for lifting and lowering tasks.

Question 10

Manual Material Handling Document: What kind of alternatives are there to remove the manual handling of individual containers.

Answer 10

Change the container - insert siphon or pump instead of pouring, increase size of container.
Use a tool - Use a hook for light-weight containers to reduce reach.
Use non-powered equipment - Use a drum dolly, cart, portable scissors lift, hand truck, conveyor, hand pallet, or hoist.
Use powered equipment - Use a stacker, powered hand truck, forklift, crane, lifter, tilter.

Question 11

Lecture: What are the different types of limits to which vibration data should be compared?

Answer 11

Exposure limit - maximum possible exposure allowed for whole body vibration beyond which health is impaired.
Fatigue limit - decreased proficiency boundary, performance known to be adversely affected.
Reduced comfort boundary - used to assess comfort of people traveling in airplanes, boats, buses, automobiles.

Question 12

Lecture: What are the main principles that should guide the design or selection of hand tools used in a job?

Answer 12

Maintain straight wrists, avoid tissue compression, avoid repetitive finger action, design for safety (pinch points, handle stops, sharp edges, brakes for power tools, placement for power tools, predict misuse), consider hand size range and left hand users, and consider tool weight.

Question 13

Lecture: What is the value of a tool balancer or something like the Equipois that you saw at COHAM?

Answer 13

It greatly reduces the weight of the tool and would be helpful for heavier tools that need to be manually operated or a tool that needs to be used for longer periods of time.

Question 14

Lecture: What are some examples of ergonomic “best practices”?

Answer 14

Use tools or design to make procedures easier for the workers (easier/reduce carrying, lifting, lowering, emptying).

Question 15

Lecture: What does equipment maintenance have to do with ergonomics?

Answer 15

If equipment is not taken care of a worker may need to exert more force to use a tool that is dull and has not been sharpened.
Regularly check on machines to prevent breakdowns and injuries.

Question 16

Lecture: What are some of the drawbacks of wearing gloves?

Answer 16

May interferes with the workers sense of touch.
Do not remove the hazard in the workplace environment and just protect the wearer.
Protection depends on good fit.
Could cause skin problems.

Question 17

Lecture: Given that gloves are required in many work settings, what should one consider when selecting the appropriate gloves?

Answer 17

Correct material should be chosen depending on the task.
Cuff length should fit the wearer.
Grip requirements met.
Resistant to snags and tears.

Question 18

Lecture: Is a back belt or back support belt effective at preventing injuries?

Answer 18

No, rather than relying on back belts the work environment should be redesigned to reduce the hazard of lifting.
If used in combination with other injury prevention tactics it may be helpful, however facilities should not rely solely on a back belt or back support.

Question 19

Lecture: What can we say about the effectiveness of training people on lifting techniques?

Answer 19

The reason it does not address the ergonomics of work is because the risk factors causing the problem are not changed. Workers are still exposed to the risk of injury even if they have gone through lifting training techniques. There may not even be a right way to lift.

Question 20

Lecture: What are some examples of administrative controls and how do they work?

Answer 20

Job rotation, job enlargement, work-rest cycles, workplace procedure (best practices, training). maintenance.

Question 21

Lecture: What are the challenges faced when implementing ergonomic changes?

Answer 21

Old habits die hard - some people are unwilling to change their current practice and learn a new way of doing things. They also may be unsure if the new method will work, and do not want to face a time compromise.

Question 22

Lecture: What are the two key points for Ernest TED-X talk that you could relate to the application of ergonomics?

Answer 22

It is important to ask workers what they struggle with and what they would want to change. You could be focusing on the wrong thing and you need an effective group of people to make something useful, usable and desirable.

Question 23

Lecture: What are the five stages of behavioral change?

Answer 23

Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance.

Question 24

Lecture: What seven things can you do to create successful ergonomic changes?

Answer 24

Understand the work system, management support, participatory process, training, awareness training, trial period, champion.

Question 25

Lecture: What is meant by a participatory process?

Answer 25

Determining who is involved, what they are doing and when they should become involved. Specific methods employed to achieve active participation by all members of a group in a decision making process. Makes everyone feel important and involved.

Question 26

Lecture: How can you engage people in a participatory process?

Answer 26

Evaluation tools such as evaluation framework, questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus groups.

Question 27

Lecture: What are some different brainstorming methods that you might use?

Answer 27

Mind map, sketch and pass, brainball.

Question 28

Lecture: What is ergonomics awareness training?

Answer 28

How ergonomics can affect them individually. Understanding behind rationale.

Question 29

Lecture: What is the goal of an ergonomics awareness training program?

Answer 29

Overcome barriers to change because of time concerns.

Question 30

Lecture: What is a champion?

Answer 30

Senior managers or process owners who initiate support and shepard a project within their area of responsibility.
Determine broad goals and scope of the project.
Provide action-oriented leadership to ensure that projects get across the goal line.

Question 31

Lecture: What are the key things that we learned from the study looking at the voluntary adoption of slide boards by EMS workers?

Answer 31

Factors predictive of adoption measured included perceived ergonomics advantage, the endorsement by champions and prior tool experience.

Question 32

Lecture: What are the criteria that we should used when evaluating an intervention?

Answer 32

Productivity, quality, efficiency, safety and health, worker acceptance, comfort, and cost.

Question 33

Lecture: What is usability?

Answer 33

Location, how long it would take to learn, wouldn’t slow worker down, adequate motion.

Question 34

Lecture: What is Usefulness?

Answer 34

Would reduce cycle time, make work easier, make tasks more efficient, allow worker to be less tired, reduce product damage.

Question 35

Lecture: What is Desirability?

Answer 35

Worker would benefit from use of this product, would like to try it, think coworkers would like to try it, would like to see it be used.