ABSTRACT
The carcasses came to the worker on an overhead chain-driven trolley where employees would use a knife and hook to separate the edges of the bone from the meat. The tip of the meat hook would then be placed in the glenoid fossa (socket of the scapula) for a maximum pull with both hands. The job analysis for “paddle bone’ pulling revealed a dynamic pull force exceeding 100 pounds. A Wagner T-344137 push/pull dynamometer was fitted with a meat hook and stainless steel T-handle to make this measurement. In production, the entire job process would take about 15 seconds, and would be repeated for nearly eight hours. This would exceed 1,700 pulls per day (240 pulls per hour×7.45 hours/day). Additional risk factors would include protective gloves on both hands for safety reasons and an environmental temperature in the 40-degree range.
