Information on this page is drawn from "Masonry Industry" published by Department of Labor and Industries
Summary of Hazardous Activities and Solutions
- Hazardous Activity: Lifting heavy tile boxes - while stocking
(Solution: distribute pallet loads with forklift, distribute boxes with hand truck, carry single boxes (where required; store boxes up off floor) - Hazardous Activity: Lifting heavy thinset bags, lifting heavy thinset buckets - while mixing thinset and stocking
(Solution: use smaller (lighter) bags (50 lb max); distribute thinset in partially filled 5 gal buckets, or smaller buckets) - Hazardous Activity: Highly repetitive grouting
(Solution: rotate to other tasks)
Stocking of Tile
Hazardous Activity:
Heavy boxes of tile (50 lbs) are routinely lifted by finishers.
Solution:
Distribution of pallet loads of boxes with forklifts (where appropriate), distribution of boxes with hand trucks, storing boxes up off the floor, and lift/carrying single boxes (where required) would remove the hazard of lifting over 50 lbs from floor level (from below the knees).
Mixing, Stocking Thinset
Hazardous Activities:
Heavy bags (50 -55 lbs) and buckets (5 gal of thinset may be > 50 lbs, 5 gal of water = 42 lbs) are lifted from floor level (from below the knees) while mixing and distributing thinset.
Solution:
Use of smaller bags and buckets of material (50 lbs max), storing smaller bags up off the floor (above knee level), and distribution of material using hand trucks, would remove the hazard of lifting over 50 lbs from floor level (from below the knees)
Grouting
Hazardous Activities:
Workers performing routine trowel and/or sponge motions of the trowel hand while grouting can be exposed to too many hours per day of highly repetitive motion of the trowel hand:
(> 6 hrs per day with bent wrist only) (no high hand force)
(> 2 hrs per day with bent wrist and high hand force (> 10 lbs per hand) )
Solution:
Rotating to other tasks (for example, scraping (floor/wall prep), wiping, stocking) would reduce the repetitive motion below the hazard level.
Optional Good Ideas:
- Use high quality trowels, with easy to grip handles
- Wiping - Use adequate amounts of clean water and sponges (reduce hand force by frequently cleaning sponges)
- Use tools (especially sponge) with other hand part of the time