1. RAR Ergonomics Committee
Jennifer Erickson - Animal Care Operations Manager, RAR
Kate Greenberg- Research Safety Specialist, UHS

2. Overview Background information about Research Animal Resources
Problems with work tasks
Structure of Ergonomic Committee
BDD work group problem tasks/areas and solutions
MCB work group problem tasks/areas and solutions

3. About Research Animal Resources
Manage 20 animal facilities on two campuses
Employees work with a wide range of species which includes mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, chinchillas, frogs, dogs, cats, non-human primates, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys
Average censes is 25,000 rodent cages
Employ ~100 animal husbandry employees
Employees perform husbandry and cage washing duties including daily health checks on all animals, feeding, watering, weekly to biweekly cage or pen cleaning

4. Problems with work tasks
Employees suffer from musculoskeletal and repetitive stress injury caused by their work tasks
Lost and/or restricted work time
Job dissatisfaction and/or frustration
Higher turnover
Higher workers’ compensation costs
Many tasks are performed often and repetitively
Cage changing
Cage washing
Water bottle changing/refilling/emptying
Moving animals (large and small)

5. Ergonomic Committee objectives
Identify problematic ergonomic tasks
Evaluate tasks using measurable evaluation methods
Prioritize tasks for intervention based on evaluations
Identify potential solutions using participative ergonomics and ensure they are feasible for RAR use
Trial solutions in pilot areas before rolling out to wider groups

6. Structure of Ergonomic Committee
Advisory committee- formed in September 2018
UHS (Mike Maurer and Kate Greenberg)
RAR Animal Care Manager and two Area Supervisors
DRC (Dave Fuecker)
Other groups/individuals as needed
Meet every other week
Responsibilities
Ensure teams are moving forward
Provide resources, funding, institutional support for workgroup suggestions
Establish guidelines for task evaluation, metrics, and quantitative methods
Ensure effectiveness and feasibility of recommendations

7. Structure of Ergonomic Committee
Employee work groups- formed in October 2018
BDD work group (10-12 animal care employees)
MCB work group (10-12 animal care employees)
Large animal work group (3-4 animal care employees)
Meet every other week
Responsibilities
Identify tasks of concern in their area(s)
Work to evaluate and assess tasks using quantitative methods
Brainstorm suggestions and solutions
Provide feedback to advisory group

8. Organization of committee information
Team drive on Google Drive created
All members of the committee have access to team drive
Drive has folders for advisory group meetings and minutes, work group meetings and minutes, resources, surveys and measurements
Names and contact information for all committee members listed on file in drive

9. BDD work group problem tasks/areas
Biological safety cabinets (BSC) sash height
Sash height is too low and employees are bumping wrists on sash during cage change out process
Requires taller individuals to stoop while working in BSCs
Water bottles
Constant motion of placing and removing stoppers
Cage change-out process
Repetitive twisting of wrists, awkward posture, constant holding of clean lids
Stacking of clean and dirty cages on carts
Stacking too high which makes it difficult for other employees to process carts and may cause equipment to topple over
Buildup of unused equipment or items needing repair
Hard to maneuver in storage areas or around equipment

10. BDD solutions to problem tasks/areas
Biological safety cabinets (BSC) sash height
Looking to retrofit BSCs with pan that would lower work surface
Water bottles
Tool being created/purchased to ease strain of placing and removing stoppers
Cage change-out process
Clean lids no longer being held, instead are placed to rest horizontal on clean cage bottom
Saddle chairs being trialed in one vivarium

11. BDD solutions to problem tasks/areas
Stacking of clean and dirty cages on carts
Employees trained on how to stack items on carts and to not stack items above eye level
Buildup of unused equipment or items needing repair
Storage facility secured for unused equipment
Broken equipment will either be repaired or disposed of

12. MCB problem tasks/areas
Cage change out process
Consistency with training employees how to perform task using best practices
Autoclaving equipment
Racks used to hold equipment are being overloaded racks are too large/heavy to handle
Cage assembly
Proper way to lift equipment while performing this task
Improvement of employee physical wellbeing
Slips

13. MCB solutions to problem tasks/areas
Cage change out process
Trained assistant supervisors on best practices
Create video to use as training tool
Autoclaving equipment
Educate employees on how to safely load equipment on autoclave rack
Cage assembly
Work group will create survey to further assess

14. MCB solutions to problem tasks/areas
Improvement of employee physical wellbeing
Daily morning stretching
Slips
Develop shoe program for employees
Department purchases anti-slip and anti-fatigue shoes for employees

15. Summary
Committee was just formed in the fall of 2018 and we have already made significant strides in identifying and finding solutions to problematic work tasks
Employees enjoy being part of the committee and are actively engaged in problem solving