ERGONOMICS OF MANUAL MATERIALS HANDLING - Environmentally Conscious Materials Handling - page 31

possible, the next level of risk reduction involves administrative controls ,where
strategies such as limiting exposure through job rotation or the use of multiperson
lifting teams are utilized. As opposed to eliminating or reducing the hazard, as is
the goal of engineering controls, administrative controls recognize the hazard and
attempt to reduce the risk to workers by incorporating strategies such as preem-
ployment strength testing, providing adequate rest recovery, or limiting exposure
to the “risky” jobs. As a final defense to reduce worker risk, personal protective
equipment (PPE) has been utilized. In the case of manual materials handling,
PPE has generally taken the form of back belts . PPE is generally regarded by
ergonomists as a last resort, or stopgap intervention, until an engineering solution
can be found to reduce worker risk.
For many years, workers have been being injured as they lift, lower, push,
pull, carry, and otherwise manhandle loads. The jobs in industry vary widely,
from warehousing to manufacturing to maintenance to service industries such
as parcel delivery, where workers are exposed to the physical demands of han-
dling materials. OSHA (the Occupational Health and Safety Administration) has
explored the possibility of establishing manual materials handling standards, but
has been unsuccessful to date in promulgating such standards. However, in the
absence of such standards, OSHA still has the ability to protect workers exposed
to hazardous work conditions through the General Duty Clause of the OSHA Act.
The General Duty Clause does not allow industry to ignore hazardous work con-
ditions simply because no OSHA standard addresses the specific issue. Despite
the presence of OSHA, there are a variety of economic and social issues that
would motivate industry to provide a safe work environment for employees and
reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace.

2 NIOSH WORK PRACTICES GUIDE

In the 1970s, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH,
a research arm for OSHA) called together prominent researchers in manual mate-
rials handling to address the growing problems associated with manual materials
handling injuries. The outcome of that effort was the publication of the Wor k
Practices Guide for Manual Lifting in 1981 (NIOSH 1981). The Work Practices
Guide represented a systematic analysis of manual materials handling research
that had been conducted through the 1970s.

2.1 Four Approaches for Studying Materials Handling

The authors recognized four basic approaches that had been utilized in previous
manual materials handling research: epidemiological, biomechanical, physiologi-
cal ,and psychophysical . As they presented the rationales for the four approaches,
they developed a recommendation for the analysis of manual lifting tasks. This
section presents brief explanations of the four approaches.