Longmate, Arthur R., 1996, Johnson & Johnson, Ergonomic Control Measures in the Health Care Industry, Occupational Ergonomics.
Workers had to hand fire andescopic surgical instruments during the manufacturing process several times in order to ensure their proper function during medical procedures. Hand firing means power gripping a handle or trigger instrument configuration and squeezing to provide the power to form surgical staples or ligating clips. Some workers were squeezing the instrument much harder than required, believing they would do a better job. Some instruments required about 50th percentile maximum female grip strength.
Increasing medical cases of upper extremity disorders including tendinitis and other overuse syndromes.
Nearly all workers performing this task had experienced some type of medical symptom.
Workers had to apply up to 50 lb of grip force on assembling lines.
High repetition rate of up to a thousand hand firings was required while performing the task on the production line.
All incidence of CTD’s were eliminated by elimination of repetitive hand fire requirements.
The inconvenience of frequent job rotation provided speed on implementing powered test fire fixtures.