OSHA Finds DBCS Ergonomic Risk Hazards at Kalamazoo

Posted on by postal

APWU Web News Article 74-2012, June 13, 2012

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uncovered risk factors for feeder and sweeper tasks associated with Delivery Bar Code Sorters during an inspection at the Kalamazoo, Michigan Processing and Distribution Center on Feb. 2, the union has learned.

The ergonomic risk factors were not violations of OSHA’s standards, according to a letter [PDF] from OSHA’ Lansing Area Office, but they were “considered significant enough to be brought to the employer’s attention with the intent of encouraging efforts by the employer to reduce exposure or to eliminate them completely.”

Based on the review, OSHA has resent a copy of the Ergonomic Evaluation of the DBCS to the manager at the Kalamazoo P&DC. OSHA’s report identifies the ergonomic risk factors for Feeder and Sweeper tasks on DBCS operations. To prevent musculoskeletal disorders, OSHA strongly suggested that the Kalamazoo P&DC work with USPS to eliminate the ergonomic risk factors identified in the Feeder and Sweeper tasks.

The APWU has submitted OSHA’s findings to the National Joint Labor Management Safety and Health Committee and we will pursue ways to reduce employee exposure to unsafe ergonomic work tasks on the DBCS machines.

6 thoughts on “OSHA Finds DBCS Ergonomic Risk Hazards at Kalamazoo”

  1. How do we win grievances with no back up??? You volunteer to pay more dues when the next early out results in 10,000 clerks leaving APWU. You demand increased staffing levels in APWU to handle the grievances! You re-elect the current APWU hierarchy and increase their salaries.

  2. Last page speaks on “interim solution” has been in place for over a decade. We don’t have another decade to wait for a solution. One of our NBS’s had settled for the employees must request a partner. How do we win grievances with no back up???

  3. The postal brass has figured out how to reduce “exposure” to the ergonomic hazards of the DBCS machines in Kalamazoo. They’re shutting the plant down. But not out of any concern for the health and safety of their employees.

  4. DIDN’T THIS COME OUT A YEAR OR MORE AGO? THE POST OFFICE DOES NOT CARE IF ITS EMPLOYEES GET INJURED. THIS IS OLD NEWS.

  5. Sharyn Stone
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  6. Doctors Hart, Burns and Belcher on Wed, 13th Jun 2012 3:14 pm

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