Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110830

Darius D. Sivin, PhD, Health & Safety Department, International Union, UAW, 8000 East Jefferson, Detroit, MI 48214, 313-926-5563, dsivin@uaw.net

The United Auto Workers and DaimlerChrysler have developed ErgoPAL, a screening tool that identifies ergonomic risk factors in auto industry jobs. At the 132nd Annual Meeting, the author reported that the tool, as used by two members of the staff of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler National Training Center, was a reasonably good predictor of OSHA recordable MSDs (Spearman's rho = 0.23, p=0.04, n = 80). The tool has been used in DaimlerChrysler plants by UAW ergonomics analysts for about two years. Ergonomics analysts are auto workers paid by DaimlerChrysler to analyze jobs for ergonomic risk factors and identify improvements that can be made. They receive about 40 hours of training in ergonomics each year. At the 133rd Annual Meeting, the author will present the results of an analysis of more than 500 job assessments conducted in the plants by UAW ergonomics analysts. The performance of the tool, as used regularly by the analysts, will be compared to its performance as used for evaluation purposes by training staff.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant in this session will learn what makes a good ergonomics job hazard analysis screening tool and the strengths and weaknesses of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler tool.

Keywords: Ergonomics, Occupational Exposure

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.