Ergonomics


Carbon nanotubes have been found to quickly cause adverse lung health effects in mice.

Ominous Nano Findings Win a NIOSH Award

Among the 2010 winners and honorable mentions for the Alice Hamilton Award announced Wednesday is a paper published last month in Toxicology that found mice exposed to multi-walled carbon nanotubes quickly suffered lung damage.

Correct Exercise, Posture Key to Older Adult Fall Prevention

Being able to stay in their homes and remain independent is a daily struggle for many older adults. As we age we tend to lose our flexibility, our connective tissue tightens, and we have prolonged reaction times. Problems with vision, including depth perception, all increase the likelihood of falling. When a child falls it may result in a few bumps and bruises.

OSHA's Proposed MSD Reporting Rule Garners Mixed Views

A March 30 letter from the National Association of Chemical Distributors, for example, expresses concern that the proposed rule, "which will result in a negative economic impact for the chemical distribution industry, is a prelude towards a more expansive and burdensome ergonomics framework."

This photograph shows International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia, left, at the March 25 signing of the list.

ILO Adopts New List of Occupational Diseases

The list is intended to help countries prevent, record, and, if applicable, compensate for diseases caused by work.

IEA/Liberty Mutual Award Applications Due May 31

The award for original research that prevents work-related injuries includes a $10,000 prize, and the winning paper is to be submitted to one of 14 IEA-endorsed scientific journals.

OSHA's Ergonomics Fight Rejoined

Today's public hearing about OSHA's proposed restoration of an OSHA 300 log column for recording musculoskeletal disorders allows the two sides to again stake out positions for and against any form of ergonomics regulation.

Chris Patton, CSP, president of ASSE

ASSE, AIHA Offer Creative Ideas

The March 4 "OSHA Listens" meeting did not lack for out-of-the-box thinking. What OSHA does with the input from ASSE President Chris Patton and others is the crucial part, of course.

Raise Your Productivity

Technologies have radically changed our lives, but our environments haven't kept up the same pace to ensure a healthy and productive workplace.



Workers engaged in heavy construction are frequently exposed to hand and arm vibration.

Six Degrees of Hand Vibration

Exposure to hand and arm vibration in the workplace can range from severe and debilitating to nuisance level. Fortunately, there are simple solutions to this under-reported, under-regulated problem.

We know that 10 percent of construction workers do not return to work after injury, and workers with a lung disease, MSD, or injury are more likely to retire on disability than workers with the same conditions in less physically demanding work.

The Aging Worker in the U.S. Construction Industry

Reducing the physical demands on all workers in construction is essential.

Patent Awarded for Knee Pain Treatment Device

The non-invasive device, developed especially for those with osteoarthritis, is worn against the skin and designed to give patients and physicians the ability to precisely adjust the amount of pain-relieving force applied to the knee.

"We face a pending epidemic of occupational injuries to surgeons, and we can no longer ignore their safety and health," said Dr. Adrian E. Park, chief of general surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Laparoscopic Procedures Hurting Surgeons

In a University of Maryland School of Medicine survey of this profession, the largest such survey to date, 87 percent of them reported experiencing discomfort.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2008 lost-time injury and illness rate for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants overall was 449 per 10,000 full-time workers.

Guide Addresses Top Hazards for Home Health Aides

The new resource from NIOSH is sure to be needed: BLS has projected this occupation will grow faster than any other through 2016.

The proposed Michigan ergonomics standard defines "rrgonomic hazards" as conditions where intervention may be necessary to prevent a musculoskeletal disorder.

Michigan's Ergonomics War Set to Resume

With the regulatory impact statement and economic analysis all but done, Michigan OSHA's controversial proposed ergonomics standard could reach the public hearings stage in about 90 days.

This image depicts an incorrect lifting technique. It is included in a Cal/OSHA Lifting Safer English/Spanish poster that shows safe lifting techniques for boxes, lumber, pipes, sheets and sacks.

Construction Ergonomics Guidance Offered in Spanish

NIOSH has translated "Simple Solutions – Ergonomics for Construction Workers" into Spanish to aid employers and workers.

The bills would require the U.S. Labor Department to enact a safe patient handling standard, and each covered employer would have to create and implement a safe patient handling and injury prevention plan within six months after the standard is promulgated.

Patient Handling Bills Shouldn't Cover Home Care, AIHA Says

The association's president wrote to U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who sponsored S. 1788, warning that risk control approaches aren't available at this time to address all of the workers' exposures in that industry.

FDA Unveils First Phase of Transparency Initiative

The Food and Drug Administration recently unveiled the first phase of its Transparency Initiative that is designed to explain agency operations, how it makes decisions, and the drug approval process.

HFES Bulletin Lists Top Blogs, Welcomes Journal's New Editor

Carol Stuart-Buttle, MS, CPE, MErgS, principal at Stuart-Buttle Ergonomics of Philadelphia, started as editor of the journal Ergonomics in Design on Jan. 1, 2010.

Executive Ergonomics

Executives are people first. Sounds obvious, but this is key to heightening active support for Safety and Health from your company's apex.

This DoD photo taken by USMC Cpl. Jason Ingersoll shows the damaged Pentagon minutes after a hijacked airliner struck the building on Sept. 11, 2001.

2000-2009: The Decade in Safety & Health

The H1N1 pandemic was 2009's biggest safety and health story, but OSHA also grabbed the spotlight last year with a blockbuster $87 million fine. For all of the attention paid to tower crane safety, combustible dusts, crumbling infrastructure, and a jobless recovery, the biggest story of 2000-2009 was Sept. 11, 2001.

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