The First Facility Management Blog

Highway Products, Inc. of White City, OR has introduced its latest model of The Roller Coaster™ 2000-XT truck bed slide-out cargo tray. This heavy duty, thick, marine grade, all aluminum slide-out cargo tray holds up to 2000 pounds and is designed to enable workers to slide cargo out of the truck bed fast and easy.

The Roller Coaster 2000-XT from Highway Products

The Roller Coaster 2000-XT glides on sealed roller bearings on galvanized steel Tee-Bone™ track system and safely locks into position with the dual Stab Lock™ locking mechanism. The locking mechanism enables users to lock the tray in place in 10″ increments.

The truck bed slide is available for all brand and size pickup trucks, vans, and service bodies. The unit comes with installation kit, instructions, and a five-year warranty.

Goldtouch has released its new Go! Travel Adjustable Keyboard. Weighing just one pound, one ounce, the keyboard provides the comfort and functionality of the standard Goldtouch keyboard while facilitating computer work for the mobile professional.

The Go! Travel Adjustable Keyboard from Goldtouch offers comfort and functionality for the mobile professional. It can be placed directly on a laptop.

The compact design of the keyboard makes better use of limited space environments and allows for external mice to be placed even closer to the keyboard for reduced shoulder pain and increased comfort. Dimensions are 13.25” x 6” x 1” (at highest point).

Two protective covers support the Go! during use (allows it to be placed directly on a laptop) while reducing exposure to impacts that could lead to key cap loss when traveling.

Features include:

• Adjustability: 0° to 30° adjustment for ulnar deviation (wrist splay) in the horizontal, combined with 0° to 30° adjustment for wrist pronation (vertical tenting)
• Soft key touch, low activation force (40 to 45 grams avg.), full key travel distance provides keying comfort and reduces risk from “bottoming out” when keying.
• Compact size allows for use in limited space environments and reduces shoulder abduction when reaching for mice.
• Ease of use and intuitive design allow new users to adjust the keyboard to a comfortable typing position without additional accessories.
• Compatible with PC and Mac

During Tuesday’s (12/9/08) American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Web cast, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) John Henshaw and former Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Dr. John Howard discusses the future of the OSHA. Other topics included the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970, the standards’ setting process, and the economic impact on workplace safety.

“With this economic downturn, I believe we must do more to reach out to small and medium size businesses to show them the value of developing and implementing workplace safety programs,” Henshaw said. “We need to sell it to them. Right now, most large and smart companies already know the huge benefits and cost savings of developing and implementing occupational safety, health, and environmental programs into the workplace, but we, including OSHA, really need to reach out and show them the benefits of investing in safety—the value it brings and the increased efficiency.”

As for the future of OSHA and the OSH Act, Henshaw noted that due to the economy, he doesn’t see any major changes ahead for OSHA with the new administration.

“I do not believe, even though I feel it is necessary, that we will see any changes to OSHA due to the economy in the near future,” Henshaw said. “However, I do believe changes need to be made in the area of standards development and generating more participation by businesses—we all need to work together.”

“The workplace has changed over the years,” Howard added. “Unlike the 1970s and the years before and after, people aren’t with the same company for decades any longer; many work as consultants and contractors. So as the work relationship changes, so too does the nature of the work. Maybe the OSH Act should be revisited and updated to reflect these changes.

“We need to be creative,” Howard continued. “For instance, the new head of OSHA should meet with the head of Commerce in the next administration and say ‘you need to incorporate an overall workplace safety, health, and environmental program for the proposed new infrastructure programs the President has called for,’ this includes all the new highway and bridge construction projects. Start there and show them how. Also, look at many state OSHA programs, like the one in California, where they often take a hybrid approach when addressing workplace hazards.”

Henshaw said OSHA has been doing an excellent job. The federal OSHA has 2200 employees. “OSHA is not ineffective; it could be more effective if there were fewer boundaries prohibiting OSHA from setting up standards—such as court decisions and more,” Henshaw said. “OSHA can’t write a standard for every risk.”

When asked about the possibility of an ergonomic standard returning—such as in the Clinton Administration—Henshaw and Howard both agreed that it was unlikely.

“We need to do more to educate employers and workers on ergonomics,” Howard, former head of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, CAL/OSHA, said. “Coming from California, the only state with an ergonomic program, I believe something needs to be done. One third of all workplace injuries are due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). OSHA could do more in the area of education – provide employers with tools they can use to enable them to afford to address the risks to reduce this injury.”

Both agreed that Congress can help play a role in outlining the priorities for OSHA, an agency charged with helping keep America’s workers safe—injury and illness free—with very limited resources.

One artist who has spent much of her career beautifying crutches (pictured above is her cane as a piece of furniture), neck and back braces, and other items associated with physical rehabilitation and disability has launched a new product with even loftier goals: LightMate (pictured below). These soft anthropomorphic pillows and warming lamps,”heat, light, and provide company” according to the designer, Francesca Lanzavecchia.

Lanzavecchia’s personal interpretation of design is the result of a multidisciplinary approach combining an engineering problem solver attitude with an emotional fascination for humanism. Being grounded in the practical and logical, she practices an agile methodology and produces provoking concepts. The artist dreams, observes, debates, experiments, designs, and creates—drawing upon the emotional and intangible while relating them with the real and affecting.

“Can electric energy fill the void of human absence?” she asked herself when designing LightMates. Their different sizes answer to everyone’s need of heat; a mate to hug or a huge companion you can lay on. Lanzavecchia shows off her Lightmate:

(Imagine a roomful of preschoolers curled up on these things instead of sleeping bags at nap time!)

LightMates are an outgrowth of the artist’s line of products presented in the catalog, Proaesthetics: Disability Artifacts of Support. These products set out to create a bridge between user and producer aiming to open their eyes to the possibilities and new values that these vital body accessories can bestow upon the user. Here disability aids become a stage to discuss, understand and cope with disability, illness and human frailty.

(Photo by Davide Farabegoli)

Polly, this colorful back brace, has sculpted pockets to store personal artifacts.

Last week (7/17/08), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Appeals Board Panel dismissed the latest appeal brought by the Construction Industry Employer Coalition, a coalition of five trade associations of U.S. construction interests, to withdraw the adoption of the approved voluntary consensus standard “reduction of Musculoskeletal Problems in Construction” (ANSI/ASSE A10.40-2007), which aims to reduce musculoskeletal problems/disorders (MSDs) in the construction industry. This was the last appeal allowable under the ANSI appeals process.

In late 2006, the ANSI/ASSE A10 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) on Construction and Demolition Operations approved the standard. Following the approval of the standard by the Committee, the Coalition filed an appeal challenging the standard’s adoption, and a hearing was held on May 1, 2007 to hear the formal complaints.

On May 25, 2007, the appeals panel found unanimously that the appeal complaints were without merit and that the Secretariat, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), complied with the ANSI due process requirements in developing the standard. ANSI’s Board of Standards Review (BSR) approved the standard on July 23, 2007 after extensive review of the procedures and the record.

During Fall 2007, the Coalition filed a request with ANSI to retract the approval of the standard temporarily, but the BSR decided not to rescind the approval of A10.40 as a consensus standard while an appeal was pending on October 16, 2007. The Coalition appealed the BSR decision on November 9, 2007. The ANSI BSR held the hearing for the appeal on February 7, 2008. The BSR determined after the appeal hearing on March 14, 2008 that its original action to approve the A10.40 as an American National Standard stands. The Coalition appealed again on May 5, 2008, their last appeal under ANSI procedures.

According to the ANSI Appeals Board Panel, the appeals statement and record filed by the Coalition did not establish a prima facie case against the BSR’s earlier decision to uphold the approval of the standard. Therefore, another appeals hearing will not be held.

The ANSI BSR denied the previous appeal on the grounds that insufficient evidence was provided by the Coalition in support of its appeal to demonstrate that the ASC 10 Committee failed to obtain a consensus of materially affected interests with respect to the A10.40 Standard, that the Committee was unbalanced or dominated by one interest group, that the Committee failed adequately to respond to comments or that any procedural requirements were violated or overlooked.

“National consensus standards, such as A10.40, reflect the insights of the final users and the opinions of professionals who work at all levels of public and private sectors in technology development, safety and health, manufacturing, training, financial analysis, personnel and academia,” said A10 Committee Chair Richard King, CSP, CRSP. “This balanced perspective enables standards to be crafted in a manner that benefits and protects standard users.”

Some of the potential solutions in the standard aimed at reducing incidence of MSDs include risk elimination, substitution, use of engineering controls, administrative changes, training, use of protective equipment and assessment of individuals’ physical capabilities.

The standard also notes that construction workers and supervisors should be trained to recognize risk factors and ways to reduce the risk of MSDs through proper work techniques. Employee participation and injury management program are also discussed in the standard. A10.40 also includes a risk assessment guide, a construction MSD problem checklist, a return-to-work checklist, a list of resources, key terms and definitions and a list of non-occupational risk factors associated with work-related MSDs such as age, strength and gender.

For more information on how to reduce the risk of MSDs in construction visit the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for its booklet titled Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Construction Workers. Click this link for ASSE’s position statement on ergonomics.

Humantech, Inc. is assisting students in the pursuit of ergonomics-related education with its 2008-2009 ergonomics college scholarship program. Through the program, a $1,500 scholarship in each of three degree programs —undergraduate (junior and senior only), masters, and doctorate—will be awarded this coming fall.

“We at Humantech are very excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the education of emerging thought leaders pursuing studies in ergonomics related fields” said Josh Kerst, vice president. “This year we’ve defined the program even further to recognize students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctorate levels.”

Scholarship applicants must be pursuing degrees in ergonomics, human factors, kinesiology, human kinetics, industrial engineering, or a related field; demonstrate a passion for advancing the field of ergonomics; have a strong academic background; and supply an example of an original project or unique practical application in ergonomics.

Applications may be submitted online only, and the deadline for all entries is October 1, 2008. A panel of Humantech’s ergonomics professionals will evaluate the entries and award the scholarships by November 30, 2008. For more information about the scholarship, visit www.humantech.com/scholarship.