PREFACE

by PJ Edington
Center for Office Technology

We are pleased to be able to provide you with these proceedings from the Conference entitled Managing Ergonomics in the 1990’s: A Discussion of the Science and Policy Issues, which represent a detailed summation of the four day meeting held June 17 through 20, 1997 in Cincinnati, Ohio. This conference was the first national conference to address and explore the major issues in the scientific and policy debate confronting the ergonomics community. Besides the unique nature of this conference in the area of ergonomics, two other precedents, we believe, have been set: this is the first time a major Conference Proceedings has been offered over the Internet, and it is the most rapid production of a Conference Proceedings of this nature.

Co-sponsored by the American Automobile Manufacturers Association and the Center for Office Technology, the conference provided an open forum for the experts to present scientific data and discuss in a structured format where they differ and where they agree. This precedent-setting meeting was developed cooperatively by more than 19 organizations and 30 individuals representing businesses and associations, labor unions and government to highlight and consider different views regarding the body of ergonomic knowledge in the contexts of current state-of-the-science and ongoing policy concerns and considerations. Over an extended period, the planning committee worked together to develop the agenda and then selected session arrangers with differing points of view who in turn chose key speakers and discussants. There were eight topical plenary sessions:

The Size, Scope, and Definition of the Problem

Case Definitions and Diagnostic Criteria

Research: Exposure Response in a Research Mode

Interventions and Controls

Economics: Costs of Illnesses and Costs of Controls

Methods of Ergonomic Exposure Assessment: Validity and Limitations

Case Management

OSHA’s Statutory Framework

Each of these sessions contained a variable number of presentations, followed by reactions and responses from the invited session discussants. Conference participants then had the opportunity to ask questions and make comments from the floor. The Conference Arrangers were particularly pleased that the Ergonomics Team from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recognized the importance of this meeting and key members of the team attended all four days of the Conference.

The Conference was recorded on audiotape, but we have only transcribed the opening remarks, discussants’ presentations and questions from the floor from each session. Those portions of the conference transcript just mentioned have been edited for grammatical and transcriptional accuracy only, and have been reproduced in these Proceedings. We have attempted to avoid changing the context or nuance of the spoken word, and endeavored to present an accurate transcription of what was actually said during the conference. In some places, words have been added to the transcript for clarification purposes only; these are so indicated by their enclosure in [square brackets].

The platform presentations from each session are represented in these proceedings (in most cases) by the Extended Abstracts, which were submitted to us by the presenting author prior to the conference. In these, we have edited only the style of the extended abstracts to present a consistent format throughout the Proceedings, and in places, resized tables or figures for either consistency and/or location in the Proceedings. In those few cases where we were unable to obtain the Extended Abstract from a presenter (or unable to use the one provided due to software incompatibility), we are providing a transcription of their remarks made from the podium.

In two separate instances, both occurring on the first day of the Conference, the audiovisual contractor did not record portions of the Conference, this despite having two separate (main and backup) audiorecording systems operating. These two areas are the beginning of Dr. Ronald Gray’s remarks as a Discussant in the Case Definitions and Diagnostic Criteria Session, and the last 15 to 20 minutes of the Question & Answer portion of that same Session. Our profound apologies to those individuals whose remarks, comments etc. we ‘lost,’ as well as to you, the reader.

Acknowledgments

We particularly want to thank the members of the Conference Planning Committee who worked diligently to present a fair and balanced program. The committee members (along with their current primary affiliation, for identifying purposes only) included:

Nancy Adams, Occupational Safety & Health Administration; Vern Anderson, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Tom Armstrong, the University of Michigan Center for Ergonomics; Debbie Berkowitz, United Food and Commercial Workers; Pat Bertsche, the Ohio State University Institute for Ergonomics; Anita Drummond, Office of Advocacy, Small Business Administration; PJ Edington, Center for Office Technology; Mike Fagel, Aurora Packaging; Dave Felinski, American Automobile Manufacturers Association; Larry Fine, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Stuart Flatow, American Trucking Association; Jim Frederick, United Steelworkers of America; Heather Grob, Center to Protect Worker’s Rights; Steve Guttman, American Industrial Hygiene Association; Karen Haskiell, Center for Office Technology; Brad Joseph, Ford Motor Company; Mort Kasdan, Surgery of the Hand; Ken Kushner, American Iron and Steel Institute; Steven Lamm, Consultants in Epidemiology and Occupation Health, Inc.; David LeGrand, Communication Workers of America; Hank Lick, Ford Motor Company; Joanne Linhard, Organization Resources Counselors; Jane Lipscomb, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Dean Louis, American Society for Surgery of the Hand; Tony Massaro, Chrysler Corporation; Margaret Menge, National Association of Manufacturers; Frank Mirer, International United Automobile Workers; Colette Mlynarek, American Petroleum Institute; Frank Nitsch, Amoco; Lida Orta-AnJs, International United Automobile Workers; Brian Peacock, General Motors Corporation; Gordon Reeve, Ford Motor Company; Howard Sandler, Sandler Occupational Medicine Associates, Inc.; David Sarvadi, Keller & Heckman and National Coalition on Ergonomics; Scott Schneider, Center to Protect Worker’s Rights; Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO; and Phil Shellhaas, IBM Corporation.

Dr. Peter Budnick and his staff at Ergoweb® Inc., deserve a special thank you for making the electronic presentation of these proceedings possible (through his ergonomics website on the internet). He and his team have worked hard to ensure that the document is easily accessible to conference attendees and non-attendees alike.

July 1997