Overview
Ergonomic Guidelines (2000-170)
Project Team:
- NIOSH
- MEMIC
- General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
- Continental Marine
- VT Halter Marine
- Ingalls Shipbuilding
- Jeffboat
- Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
- Vigor Industrial
- University Researchers Coordinated by NIOSH
September 1999 - February 2003
NSRP ASE Investment: $305K
Industry Investment: $298K
NIOSH Investment: $245K
Objective:
Determine if ergonomic interventions within the domestic shipbuilding and ship repair industry can increase product quality and productivity, while reducing injuries, illnesses and worker’s compensation costs to the point of being beneficial to the industry’s position in the global marketplace.
Summary:
Successes from NSRP’s Ergonomic Guidelines project had some individuals within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) calling it the “gold standard” for other industries to follow. “The Ergonomic Guidelines project has been so successful, NIOSH is conducting a similar one for the construction industry,” said U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Larry Reed, Acting Director of the Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies of NIOSH. “This is the broad gold standard by which to establish guidelines for best practices of ergonomic solutions.” As a result, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) agreed to temporarily exempt the entire maritime industry from proposed regulations to give the industry time to submit examples of successful interventions, which OSHA may then use to develop shipbuilding ergonomic guidelines and standards. “A lot of other industry groups are looking very closely at this shipbuilding study,” said Larry Liberatore, former Director of Maritime Standards and Maritime Coordinator for OSHA. They are very encouraged by the whole participation aspect of the project and how it evolved with labor, industry and government working together.”
Liberatore and Reed attribute the success of the shipbuilding ergonomics project to its broad support by labor and industry as a means to increase worker safety and productivity while decreasing the industry’s costs associated with worker injuries. As such, it is widely recognized as a win-win project within the shipbuilding industry. W.D. “Chico” McGill agrees. He is the business manager and financial secretary of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 733, representing workers at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Avondale and Ingalls Operations shipyards. “The cooperation between labor and management in the shipyards has been nothing short of fantastic,” McGill said. “It’s absolutely leaps forward for an industry trying to address an issue that is costly.” For each of the eight shipyard study sites, NIOSH has prepared detailed pre- and post-intervention reports that quantify the effectiveness of the intervention studies at each yard.
Key Deliverables:
Final Report – Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Point of Contact:
Stephen D. Hudock, PhD, Center for Disease Control & Prevention