Abstract

Imperial Bedding was sited by OSHA for violations in the shipping area for loading heavy bedding manually. Imperial responded through improved training and the installation of a conveyor system to eliminate the heavy lifting of mattresses in trucks. This case study documents the steps Imperial followed in creating the required engineering solution to the challenge of loading bedding in an effective ergonomic manner. In addition to alleviating the difficulties in loading bedding, Imperial also developed a mattress handling and storage system which created an overall process discipline, leading to improved efficiency and customer service throughout the entire organization.

"You cannot load your trucks that way! It is a danger to your employees and you need to figure out another way."

With this admonition, the OSHA inspector slapped Imperial Bedding and its owner Ron Rowe with a safety citation and a hefty fine for:

"failure to provide a place of employment which was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees due to exposure to increased risk of cumulative trauma disorders in the shipping and receiving area. Employees were lifting mattresses from stacks and loading them on trucks for transport."

Ron Rowe had been in the mattress manufacturing industry for over thirty years and had personally done every job involved in this type of operation. He was being cited for actions that had been the standard operating procedure for decades and continues to be the method by which bedding manufacturers load their trucks for delivery to customers. What was he to do? Why was he being picked on, when there were far bigger fish to fry? Could this inspector shut his operation down because of this citation? He maintained his composure and asked the inspector for suggestions as to how to meet his demands.

"That's not my job, Mr. Rowe. You are responsible for solving this problem, but I will give you some time by allowing you to implement effective administrative protection, such as training, physical assessment or job rotation as interim protection until a feasible engineering solution can be put into service. You will need to keep my office fully apprised of your progress toward this end."

With orders to fill, production to balance, machines to maintain, sales to generate and dozens of other everyday things that come together to make a firm successful, Ron did not relish diverting his attention to the solution of a problem that was widespread in his industry. He knew that handling mattresses and box springs was tough work for the shipping employees. He had done it in his younger days, but he realized that the product had become heavier and bulkier as the customer demanded new comfort and features in the product. Some of his king size items were pushing 200 pounds and handling them was a real challenge for the best and strongest employee. " When we have a new fellow start in the shipping area, after about three days, he is whipped like an old dog." It is survival out there for the most motivated employee, and those were becoming harder to find. His plant produced upwards of one thousand items and loaded as many as five or six full trailers in a day. Asking his employees to handle these over their heads, and climb ladders to stack them to the ceiling of a 48 foot trailer was a lot to expect, but that was the way it was done. And he did not have a clue as to how to do it differently.

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