In a new Health Hazard Evaluation Report by the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, researchers describe findings of an evaluation
of musculoskeletal disorders at one South Carolina poultry plant.

This was NIOSH's second visit to this plant and they continued to find very
high rates of musculoskeletal disorders among plant workers. On the first
visit, NIOSH documented that 42 percent of the workers showed evidence of
carpal tunnel syndrome. They found that 57 percent of participants reported at
least one musculoskeletal symptom at both the initial and follow up visit. In
addition, NIOSH found that over 30 percent of participants in the study, during
both the first and second visit, were performing job tasks that had levels of
hand activity and force above the American Conference of Governmental
Industrial Hygienists' threshold limit values.

NIOSH also noted potential underreporting of work-related injuries on company
medical clinical data and that the company had only implemented a few of its
earlier recommendations to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. In their
follow-up report, NIOSH added a number of new specific recommendations, and
concluded that "existing guidelines for prevention, early recognition and
intervention, and medical management must be put into place and vigorously and
routinely reinforced" to prevent musculoskeletal disorders." For a complete
list of NIOSH's findings and recommendations, read the report.

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AplusA-online.de - Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)