They made themselves taste too good.

From: Haffner-Loach Neil G - Senior OH Nurse Practitioner / Ops Manager [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 December 2008 11:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Dunn
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Matthew, to save you from being plucked and stuffed by some of the female members of the list for making non-PC comments I will point out that gobbling is Turkeys, not Chickens !!

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of McKeown Matthew
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Matthew Mckeown RGN DipHE
Occupational Health Nurse
Occupational Health Commercial Services
Tel: 01983 537553 Fax: 01983 - 537555
[log in to unmask]

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Naylor, Sharon [HMPS]
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Sounds like the problem may be static loading of the muscles/ joint - when people support a weight they tend to rotate the wrist anti clockwise (if its the left, vice versa for the right) and maintain the wrist in an acute poition of downwards dorsiflexion (if that makes sense). Try it for 5 mins, its very uncomfortable - NSAIDs and physio should work

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Dunn
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Robert Dunn TD

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Naylor, Sharon [HMPS]
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Bernard quality control people were amongst those that suffered (those grading the meat) as I remember

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Dunn
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

They tend to use the dominant hand to hold the bird by the legs then use the non-dominant hand to separate the feathers and assess the breast. I’m not sure any Bernard Matthews solution would necessarily work as these birds are live (and I assume they hope to stay that way) not being plucked.

Robert Dunn TD

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Naylor, Sharon [HMPS]
Sent: 19 December 2008 10:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

I think you`ll find that the Bernard Matthews plant had a lot of problems with WRULD type problems with their turkey pluckers (no this is not a joke ) and put together some good practises

Is the problem in the hand that is sperating the feathers or in the hand that is supporting the bird? In my experience I have seen a fair few problems caused by static loading o f the forearm muscles in the non dominant hand, also because of the height at which the forearm was extended (ie chest height) - we got round it by designing a platform to support the object but would suggest risk asssessment, highlighting of the actual tasks exacerbating the problems, maybe task rotation, exploration of alternative ways of doing the job, physio assessemnt and possible treatment, proper component diagnosis (eg De Quervains, thoracic outlet ) if necessary she may just have to stop doing it for a while

From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Dunn
Sent: 19 December 2008 09:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Bird handlers (chickens)

Despite the obvious jokes about a bird for Christmas I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anyone presenting with a similar problem, and if so what the solution was apart from stop doing the work?

I have an Zoology PhD with a WRULD (wrist and hand) problem caused by her research. She and her team (3 people in total) need to pick up around 600 chickens a day to sex the bird, check the wing tag (which requires frequent finger micro -movements to separate covering feathers), lift it up by the legs to check the vent and the straightness of the legs, then assess the amount and firmness of the breast meat by a subjective hand span measurement (it is at this point all the weight of the bird is on one hand, usually the non-dominant one), and then they finally weigh the bird by placing it in a sling attached to a balance. The birds weigh ~2.5 – 3.5 kilos each.

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