The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their assistance in supporting the Badger ergonomics initiative: Lisa Steiner
and Sean Gallagher of NIOSH; Pauline Lewis formerly of NIOSH and now with Hartford Insurance; and Mellisa Stafford, Linda Artz
and Don Seaman of Badger Mining Corporation.
The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to Janet Torma-Krajewski, Colorado School of Mines, 350 Indiana Street,
Suite 610, Golden, CO 80401, USA. E-mail: <jtorma@mines.edu>.
Ergonomics Interventions at Badger
Mining Corporation
Janet Torma-Krajewski
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Martin Lehman
Badger Mining Corporation, Berlin, WI, USA
In 2005, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Badger Mining
Corporation entered a partnership to implement ergonomics interventions, including a systematic process,
to address exposure to risk factors that may result in musculoskeletal disorders or other types of injuries/
illnesses. As a result of this partnership, an ergonomics process was integrated with the existing safety and
health programme to promote an on-going application of ergonomics principles, and over 40 task-specific
interventions were implemented during the first year of the process. This paper presents details of the process
integration, and several examples of task-specific interventions that reduced exposure to risk factors.
1. INTRODUCTION
Badger Mining Corporation is a family-owned
small business with its headquarters in Berlin,
WI, USA. Badger operates two sandstone mines
near Fairwater and Taylor, WI, USA, which
produce ~1.82 billion tonnes of industrial silica
sand annually. Badger also owns three subsidiary
companies, one of which participated in the
ergonomics process. This subsidiary (LogicHaul)
is located a