Ergonomics: Work Shouldn’t Hurt!
After millions of preventable workplace injuries, OSHA is ready to adopt an ergonomics standard. Will Big Business stop efforts to protect workers from long-term pain in a quest for short-term profits?
Ergonomics means fitting the job to the needs of the worker — finding ways to help workers do their jobs without putting unnecessary strain on their bodies. This kind of strain affects more than 600,000 workers each year, frequently in the form of a condition called repetitive stress injury (RSI).
Whatever their job — operating computers, caring for patients, preparing food in institutional kitchens, driving buses — workers shouldn’t be forced to work in an unsafe manner. But fighting for workers’ rights is always an uphill battle.
It took more than eight years for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue its draft proposed ergonomics program standard in February. This is the first step toward a final standard. Even though it offers limited coverage, corporations are fighting the proposed standard tooth and nail. In fact, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has introduced H.R. 987, the Workplace Preservation Act, to stop OSHA action. U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) has introduced a companion bill in the Senate. It would prohibit OSHA from issuing its final standard until the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) submits another study to Congress. The NAS has already studied the issue and concluded that work hazards cause musculoskeletal disorders and that ergonomics can prevent these problems.
In the following stories, you will learn about some AFSCME efforts to root out ergonomic problems — to make the work fit the worker. If AFSCME members don’t speak out, corporate greed will win another round and stop the ergonomics standard in its tracks.
Rochester, NY
In 1993, if you asked workers at the 911 center here to describe their work setting, they could have done it in one word, “nightmare.”
The 24-hour/seven-day, high-stress emergency response center had computer consoles that were totally rigid and chairs that could not be adjusted to workers’ needs. Of 140 workers, 13 percent had been diagnosed with cumulative trauma disorders (caused by doing a motion repeatedly with a part of the body); 23 percent had symptoms. Faced with workers’ increasing pain and disability — and ongoing pressure from Local 1635 (Council 66) — the city stonewalled. Local 1635 sued and won.
Today things are different.
Jan Lloyd has worked here 19 years. Before the changes were made, Lloyd thought she would have to leave her job. She has repetitive motion syndrome of the ulnar nerve (elbow) and carpal tunnel syndrome in the wrist and hand.
“I lost 15 percent of the use of my arm and my right hand,” she says. “My surgeon told me to get a new job unless management was willing to make major changes.”
The big move. Rochester had been providing emergency services for a number of nearby townships. The 911 operators worked in a jerry-rigged office. Finally, the city built a new center. The union’s pressure and its suit paid off.
“We had the employees involved testing all kinds of equipment,” says Local 1635 Vice Pres. Brian Woods. “We had an expert in ergonomics to work with our members and the city.
“We need full adjustability at every workstation,” particularly since the center operates around the clock with multiple operators using each workstation, Woods explains. “There was nothing on the market. We actually designed brand-new equipment to fit the needs of the workers.”
Today each station has computer screens and keyboards that are fully adjustable. In fact, many of the screens respond to touch. Heating, cooling and lighting are individually controlled. Workers can choose from three types of ergonomically designed and individually adjustable chairs.
“The adjustments ease the pain,” says Lloyd, who believes she would have kept losing the use of her hand and arm without the changes.
Time out. There have been many other improvements that have changed the quality of worklife at the 911 center. Workers are trained to work in an ergonomically correct way, and all the training is provided on duty time.
Staff rotate about every two hours depending on the type of work and call volume they are experiencing. An exercise room with state-of-the-art equipment has been set aside so they can work off stress.
There is a quiet room and peer counseling available. These are especially important following a crisis — like the times operators talk to a desperate parent with a child who has stopped breathing through CPR. The children don’t always make it, and the loss can be devastating.
Robert Collins appreciates the changes because they have given him back his music. When he began experiencing symptoms of repetitive stress injury, management said the job wasn’t creating the problem; his guitar playing was. “I’ve had no problem since I came to the new center,” says Collins, who is happy he can do his job and make music.
Columbus, Ohio
The driver on the bus goes bounce, bounce, bounce — all over town. At least that is how things used to be for school bus drivers here, until the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/AFSCME Local 4 stepped in with a plan to upgrade the buses.
Most of us remember our school bus rides as happy times spent with friends or getting our homework done. But school bus drivers have long suffered permanent back injuries from bad seats and repetitive stress injuries from manually operated doors.
Jean Cherryholmes has been driving school buses for 26 years — and working to make the job safer for members of her local and the children they serve.
It wasn't hard to see the damage done to the drivers. "All you had to do was see some of our drivers trying to walk after some years on the job," says the president of OAPSE Local 33.
Bonding. She worked very closely with management to address the problem. But their hands were tied "until we passed a bond issue," explains Cherryholmes. Now there is money to begin replacing buses. "In March of 1998, we got 43 new buses, and we have 16 on order now," she says. The local has been involved at all levels in the selection of the new buses. "They are being given to drivers by seniority," she says. "Most of the older drivers were those who had the most disabilities. You can spot them if you watch them walk.
"The seats on our new buses are absolutely miraculous," says Cherryholmes. She is also very pleased with the automatic door opening system and the automatic transmission — both of which relieve stress on drivers' hands and wrists. "Because we're here in town, it would be awful to have to shift constantly," Cherryholmes points out.
The safe and comfortable buses will also help Columbus retain their drivers. As in many other jurisdictions nationwide, the city has been experiencing a shortage. "We've been so short of drivers we've doubled and tripled our driving time," Cherryholmes says. "When you've got a person who's been on the job a long time and has been a good employee, you want to keep them."
Iowa City, Iowa
Jeff Strottmann is the Local 12 (Council 61) steward at the 250-worker University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Dietary Department.
"You'd look around at break, and at one point it seemed that most people had splints on," he says. It reminded him of what he had seen as a meatcutter for IBP (formerly Iowa Beef Products). Strottmann had developed "trigger finger," a repetitive stress disorder that causes pain and inflammation to the index finger.
Strottmann discussed some of the problems he saw with the supervisor and continued up the management chain. Then he began filing grievances. "Management denied there was a problem," he says.
Using Iowa OSHA's general duty clause, Local 12 filed a complaint. The six-month investigation that followed led to a number of citations with fines totalling $44,500.
100 Percent crippled. "Some areas had a majority or 100 percent of the workers crippled for life with a variety of repetitive motion disorders," says Strottmann. This was particularly true for workers in the kitchen's production areas.
Although management contests the citations, they have taken some steps to improve conditions.
"In vegetable prep, workers sliced fruits, vegetables and cheeses by the caseload," explains Strottmann. Now there is more rotation of duties and more breaks. Those on work restriction are given special tools, and many workers have been put on permanent work restrictions.
Local 12 Steward Marlene Kluxdal works in ingredients assembly where she weighs and measures ingredients for recipes. "I had problems with my right shoulder," she says. "The pain would shoot down my arm. I had surgery. They scraped the bone to allow more movement."
Some changes have been made in her job. "They lowered the scale so my arm is not up and at the angle where it causes fatigue," says Kluxdal. "And they gave us smaller plastic scoops. They don't have the weight of the old ones." The changes have really helped. "My shoulder isn't giving me pain unless I use it a lot," she reports.
Bargaining. Council 61 won language on establishing labor/management meetings in its new contract. "That gives us a new tool," says Council 61 Staff Rep. Todd Taylor. "We'll have the opportunity to discuss these issues in a more structured manner on a regular basis."
The investigation and citations have helped members understand how their jobs can do them harm and ways to protect themselves. That may be the most important tool they can use while the union presses management to live up to its legal and moral responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
By Susan Ellen Holleran
Are you covered?
Millions of public workers have no safety and health coverage because their state has no plan of its own and will not work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a federally approved plan.
Public workers in the following states have no coverage:
Alabama
Idaho
Georgia
Mississippi
South Dakota
These states offer some protections — primarily from hazardous materials — but have no comprehensive OSHA plan:
Arkansas
Colorado
Delaware
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Missouri Montana
North Dakota
Pennsylvaniua
Rhode Island
Texas
West Virginia
Safe Jobs Now
AFSCME’s Safety and Health Program is a good place to look for answers to your health and safety questions. They have fact sheets on specific health and safety concerns, and staff are available to help councils/local unions provide training on workplace concerns.
Safe Jobs Now: An AFSCME Guide to Health and Safety in the Workplace is a new 133-page book covering a broad range of safety and health issues. Safe Jobs Now is available on AFSCME's website.
For your free copy, write AFSCME’s Department of Research and Collective Bargaining Services, 1625 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5687, or call (202) 429-1228. You can also ask to be put on the Safety and Health mailing list.
OSHA Ergonomics Standard
Each year 600,000 workers suffer unnecessary pain and disfigurement because of ergonomics hazards. OSHA is ready to issue a standard to protect workers. Congress won’t support it unless they hear from you. Call,write, or e-mail your representative and senators. Tell them, “It’s time to stop the pain.” To leave a message for a member of Congress, call (202) 224-3121.
You can write your senators at U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510; the address for your representative is U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.
