ergonomic responses to materials handling worker injury risks be developed (1) when such action and minimum outcomes are codified into federal law, or (2) when such action and minimum outcomes are left to the discretion of individual companies? The proposed research, thus, will be evaluative in character.
Ergonomics is an evolving, inexact science which in part aims to prevent cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) by ensuring that jobs, work tasks, workstations, tools, and equipment are designed within each worker's physical capabilities and limitations. CTDs·which include carpal tunnel syndrome, tenosynovitis, tendinitis, and back injuries·are especially common among workers who do repeated, and often forceful, motions with their wrists, hands, arms, or back hundreds or thousands of times a day.
Safety and ergonomics have been emphasized increasingly in the 1990s. Efforts to enhance the ergonomics and safety of machines for their human operators are being made throughout the materials handling industry. The purpose of the proposed research study will be to determine the policy approach that will optimize the effectiveness of such efforts.
The most significant factor driving up workers' compensation losses remains lower-back injury, which accounts for 25 percent of workers' compensation loss costs. Unfortunately, there is good reason to expect the frequency and cost of these claims to increase in the foreseeable future. Both the frequency and severity of lower-back injuries increase with age, and several demographic factors are working in concert to produce an aging of the work force in the United States. Older individuals are the fastest-growing segment of the general population and the labor pool. Based on recorded birth rates, this progression will continue for at least another two decades.
The type of back injury most associated with aging is idiopathic lower-back pain, which is especially troublesome becau...