An ergonomic assessment of the airline baggage handler

44appropriate thing to do, because it is important to understand how the workers thinkabout elements of their jobs before the intervention was implemented.3.5 Review of Another Study on Conveyor Belt Design at Air CanadaThis study was focused on the applications of ergonomic principles for workplace designfor baggage handlers. It was an ergonomic intervention study done on a baggageconveyor system that was used at Air Canada's Pearson International Airport. Thisairport was highlighted and profiled because, as is the case with most airports, themajority of the musculoskeletal cases being reported involved injury to the lower backand lumbar area. Moreover, it was reported in a cost analysis done by Air Canada of thePearson Airport in 1991 that the average cost per injury was $5,636. The averagenumber of lost days per back injury was 36. The Occupational Health Clinics of OntarioWorkers Inc was solicited to come in to assess this situation.A three-staged approach was used in this study to show how the recommendationof ergonomic workstation design could possibly help with these problems. The threestageprocess was, identifying the problems and possible solutions, conducting a pilotstudy on workstation changes made, and performing an outcome assessment.3.5.1 Identifying Problems and Possible SolutionsThe purpose of their evaluation was to identify hazards, which attribute to any injuries.Once the hazards were identified, recommendations were provided to reduce the risk ofinjury.A survey was developed based on workplace injury history. The questionnairewas based on the "Nordic" system (Kourinka et al., 1987), which analyzed the loads