American Industrial Hygiene Association Sacramento Valley Section Mini-Symposium Friday, May 7, 1999

Course Outline

Instructor: Edward J. Klinenberg, Ph.D., CIH

Dr. Edward J. Klinenberg is a Ph.D. level ergonomist and board certified industrial hygienist. He is currently serving as Commander, Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight at McClellan AFB, CA. Previous to this assigment, Dr. Klinenberg was in charge of the Air Force Ergonomics Program at Brooks AFB. In this capacity, he participated in the development and implementation of a world-wide ergonomics program for the Unitied States Air Force and Department of Defense.

Objectives:

1. Understand WMSDs and their associated risk factors

2. Understand muscle force generation and its implication to good ergonomic design

3. Understand the difference between localized muscle fatigue and WMSDs

4. Be able to effectively use the AF PREMIER Program and associated tools including the JR/PD and Level I Guides

1. Introduction

2. Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs)

   • Definition
   • Scope of Problem (OSHA/BLS statistics)

3. Muscle Force Generation and localized fatigue

   • Definition %Maximum Voluntary Contraction (%MVC)
   • Group exercise - demonstrate relationship of %MVC to exertion time, hand/wrist position; relate to ergonomics design criteria

4. Show relationship between WMSDs and localized muscle fatigue

5. Identify various risk factors associated with WMSDs

   • Physical (force, repetition, awkward postures), Psychosocial, and Individual (rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, age)
   • Discuss current difficulties establishing an Occupational Exposure Level (OEL) for WMSDs

6. Provide overview of AF Preventing Musculoskeletal Illnesses through Ergonomics (PREMIER) program

   • Developed to allow junior level technicians to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and develop possible control solutions to multiple common AF tasks
   • Key tools: Job Requirements/Physical Demands (JR/PD) Survey (validating suspected problem jobs), Level I Guides (identifying problematic tasks within job and developing control solutions to reduce risk)
   • Location of AF PREMIER Program on the internet

7. Group exercise - Administer JR/PD

8. Discuss AF PREMIER Program Process

   • Identify Potential Problem Jobs
     • Includes review of previous WMSD investigation, available workplace WMSD epidemiology, and workplace risk factor identification

   • Validate Potential Problem Jobs using JR/PD
     • Discuss JR/PD structure and rationale
     • Discuss scoring methodology
     • Group exercise - Score JR/PD

   • Using the Level I Guides for Validated Problem Jobs
     • 3 volumes; administrative, maintenance/inspection, services/warehouse
     • Guide organization
     • Examples
     • Alternate uses for Level 1 Guides

   • ErgoEaser: a multi-media based ergonomic analysis tool

9. Conclusion/Questions