The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #71229

Jacqueline Chan, MPH¹, Robert Harrison, MD, MPH¹, Ira Janowitz, PT, CPE², Nan Lashuay, MPH³, Arlie Stern, BS², and Ken Fong, BA⁴. (1) Occupational Health Branch, California Department of Health Services, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1901, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-622-4386, jchan2@dhs.ca.gov, (2) Ergonomics Program, University of California, San Francisco/Berkeley, 1301S. 46th St., Building 163, Richmond, CA 94804, (3) University of California School of Nursing, 2647 International Blvd, Suite 108, Oakland, CA 94601, (4) Asian Immigrant Women Advocates, 310 8th Street, #301, Oakland, CA 94607

The California Department of Health Services, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing, the UC Berkeley/SF Ergonomics Program, and Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA) collaborated in an ergonomics intervention project at 3 garment shops in Oakland Chinatown. California, with approximately 120,000 garment workers, is the largest apparel-manufacturing center in the United States. About 12,000, mostly immigrant Chinese women, work in the San Francisco Bay Area. Garment workers typically work in sweatshop conditions-long hours without overtime pay, no benefits, and unsafe environments. Out of 100 garment workers evaluated at an AIWA Worker Clinic in the year 2000-01, 99% had one or more diagnosed work-related musculoskeletal disorder in the neck, shoulders, back, upper and lower extremities. Ergonomic risk factors include highly repetitive pinching activities, sustained neck and trunk flexion, and awkward postures of the arms and shoulders. Interventions developed included tilting the sewing table towards the worker to decrease the amount of neck and trunk flexion, design of an improved chair, and installing table extensions to decrease the amount of force needed to support the fabric as it is fed through the needle. Interventions were first tested in a laboratory and then installed at three model garment shops. Effectiveness was assessed with before/after-symptom questionnaires and postural analyses using videotape. Workers reported improved comfort with the use of interventions. Interventions resulted in the decrease of ergonomic risk factors, but with no decline of work productivity. Solutions will be applicable to garment shops statewide.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• Identify ergonomic risk factors in garment work.
• Apply ergonomic principles to the design of a cost-effective workstation for sewing machine operators.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions for sewing machine operators.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.