Normally, in any contract negotiation between two parties both sides give up so much to reach a compromise. Management has long come back with the contention to the thousands of DBCS clerks, a huge segment of the entire APWU membership, that you are paid well for the work you do on the machines, what more could you ask? Now, with the completion of the NIOSH investigations I have called in on the DBCS, a whole new dimension in the APWU's favor has been added. The very fact that working on the DBCS is highly detrimental to your long term health and that ERRP and other "solutions" have done very little to help those who must work on an inherently flawed design. What good is a high paying job, if it ultimately maims you. The National APWU apparently realized this added negotiating power with management when they emailed all the NIOSH investigations I called in to several hundred local presidents throughout the country on March 25, 2009. However, they gave absolutely no credit to me for calling in these investigations on my own time and with considerable effort in the face of substantial hostility from management AND union. I must add that the fact the National APWU even emailed the NIOSH investigations out reflected a complete 180 degree turnaround on their part. The National APWU over the years questioned the legitimacy of the NIOSH investigations. They falsely alleged that the lead NIOSH investigator was under discipline from his own agency and forced to retire because of malfeasance.

One must ask why the National APWU disagree with a NIOSH investigation that is merely to protect the very members it represents??.

I had tried for months to get the National APWU to publish the NIOSH investigations, but to no avail. I finally took the bull by the horns and had the investigations placed on 4 postal news web sites and emailed them to locals throughout the country. A number of locals placed articles about the investigations in their newspapers and on their websites. It was not long before the investigations were widely known about by officers and rank and file from coast to coast. About this time a National APWU officer stated to local officers that contact with me will be a "career killer". However the cat was now already out of the bag and a confidential APWU source in Washington, DC, told me the National APWU leadership finally decided to release the NIOSH investigations in March 2009. However no credit was given to me for all the hard work. It remains to be seen if this is only so much window dressing.


My main motivation in calling in the investigations was to have the best occupational health expertise on the planet (NIOSH) do their investigations and disseminate what they found as widely as possible. Again, I was shocked at the reaction of my own union. A reporter with a major newspaper on the other side of the country told me that I had done the most serious crime of all, the "crime" of "COMMITTING TRUTH". He said in history that those in power have killed to suppress the truth in order to stay in power and he sees no difference here. He added that the founding fathers of the US constitution had made provisions for a free press to help stop this abuse of those in power for their own selfish political ends. This reporter warned me to watch my back and reminded me of Karen Silkwood. This is not the first time I 've heard this warning .

It has been argued by some that the National APWU had to worry about protecting jobs, not ergonomics. Well, I strongly disagree because this totally ignores the fact that management deployed multitierd DBCS to replace the less ergonomically hazardous single tiered machines to eliminate clerk jobs in the first place. Secondly, as one Siemens (the manufacturer of the DBCS) engineer told NIOSH, highly automated DBCS machines have almost totally eliminated human operators in Germany. The German post office has allowed only several standard envelope sizes which has allowed this automation possible. If this ever happens in the USA, it goes without question that a large number of clerk jobs will disappear here. It will be based on the bottom line, in other words cost, not on what NIOSH or anyone else says.

I can speak from first hand experience about working on the DBCS since I had to go through surgery with a painful recovery from working on the machine. Following recovery my medical doctor brother told me to bid off the machines or quit the USPS, so I was lucky enough to acquire a bid in the Bulk Mail Entry Unit. Bids off the DBCS are very difficult to get because the word is out about their injury potential.

Here is a link to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) investigations I called in from an article by the San Antonio APWU.  http://www.saaal-apwu.org/blog/Work_Comp_Time_Bombs.html

Loyd Reeder, Denver APWU clerk

From Denver Postal Clerk Loyd Reeder (8/19/09)

Attached in PDF is the recently released NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation of the 4 tiered DBCS's which was done from OSHA videotapes done in the Denver plant in October, 2007. What had NIOSH so concerned in 1993 was the older 3 tiered DBCS, since that time they have never been allowed to look at the newer 4 tiered machines until now. If you need verification of what is said in the attachment you may reach the author of the HHE, Ergonomist Jessica Ramsey, at 513-841-4357 or by email at <ddq2@cdc.gov>.


When I showed the recently released NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation to a permanently injured former automation clerk, she threw it down in disgust after reading through it. The injured employee said that she agreed with what was said by NIOSH, but added that probably nothing is going to change and the USPS will continue to injure thousands of clerks and that the situation will only get worse with the deployment if the new DBCS-7. Based on past history, I am afraid that the injured clerk is probably right. I have now called in four NIOSH investigations on the DBCS: the 1993 investigation of the 3 tiered DBCS, the 2006 investigation of ERRP in relation to the DBCS, the 2008 investigation of the DBCS-7 through US Congresswoman DeGette, and the just released investigation of the 4 tiered DBCS that appears here. What is desperately needed is the active intervention of OSHA, the National APWU, and Congress, now that the very best occupational health expertise in the country (NIOSH) has established there is a very serious problem. However, at the very least, the NIOSH investigations have helped thousands of legitimately injured DBCS clerks file comp claims because the word of NIOSH carries incredible weight and expertise in the medical community. My brother is a medical doctor and it was his idea to call in NIOSH initially in 1992. As I have said before, the USPS chose to deny and ignore the 1993 health warnings of NIOSH and subsequently spent billions on these machines, therefore committing themselves to their use and condemning thousands of clerks to serious injury. Now that the USPS is in a very grave financial crisis and with the substantial reduction in mail volume, the USPS is forcing even higher productivity on DBCS clerks, the very thing that NIOSH said should not be done in order to decrease injuries. This no win situation is described in my 2006 article "A Terrible Dilemma", which has been published by APWU locals throughout the country. This article may be read in the Phoenix APWU "Heatwave" newspaper on pages 10-11 through the following link: http://www.phoenixapwu.org/Heatwave/Jan2007.pdf  . In summary, I unfortunately believe that the injury and employment situation for DBCS clerks will only grow worse. I hope the future proves me wrong.

PDF file

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7M_YUWMfRzVY2UzZmQ0MzgtZmQ1OC00ZjQxLWI0OGQtNDkyNTIxMzVhNzU1&hl=en

I was after US Congresswoman DeGette's office for months to obtain a copy of PMG Potter's response letter, unfortunately to no avail. I had to obtain the attached PDF copy through another source. With the USPS facing massive deficits, why would they spend the money on a new machine that will obviously increase worker comp costs through more injuries. In many ways, this situation is "déjà vu allover again". In 1993 the USPS chose to deny and ignore the NIOSH health warnings about the DBCS machines and instead chose to spend billions on them, therefore committing themselves to their use and condemning thousands of clerks to serious injury. This sad history can not be repeated. I strongly urge those of you who toil on DBCS's every day, or have already been injured by these machines, to contact your US Senators and Representatives for action on this issue ASAP. Once the contract for this new DBCS 7 is awarded (according to PMG Potter's letter this is planned for (FY) 2010) the injury situation for thousands of DBCS clerks will ultimately become much worse. The rest is up to you...... From Denver, Colorado Postal Clerk Loyd Reeder

The Honorable Danny K. Davis

Our current plans do not include the actual purchase of these machines until fiscal year (FY) 2010 at the earliest. After allowing for the production, engineering, and manufacturing time, the machines would not be deployed to any field sites until FY2011 or later. In the meantime, we do agree with the Initial findings of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health that there are no significant differences between the way postal workers will interact with the DBCS 7 versus existing DBCS machines.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has just completed a three year investigation here in Denver of ERRP and other supposed "solutions" to the flawed ergonomic design of the DBCS.

Photos: DBCS -- Delivery Bar Code Sorter)

What the investigation reveals is that short of a major redesign of the sweep side of the DBCS most effective way for clerks to avoid injury is to slow down the pace of work and reduce the amount of mail fed through the machine(see page 5).

Of course, management will NEVER go along with this. In 1993 NIOSH conducted another ergonomic investigation of the DBCS in which they described the multi-tiered stacker arrangement of the DBCS to be "A SIGNIFICANT DEPARTURE FROM GOOD ERGONOMIC DESIGN WHICH PLACES WORKERS AT HIGH RISK FOR LOWER BACK AND SHOULDER DISORDERS".

I did call in both the 1993 and 2006 investigations. As most of you probably well realize, NIOSH has no enforcement power over the USPS. However, they are the very best expertise in occupational health in the country. The truth they reveal for automation clerks in both investigations looks dismal. With the deployment of the four tiered DIOSS DBCS to replace the single tiered ISS the fewer clerks that will be left in automation will be doing far more ergonomically hazardous work and ERRP has done little to address these hazards.

If you have any technical questions about these investigations you may contact NIOSH industrial engineer Dan Habes at 513-841-4438 or by email at dhabes at cdc.gov. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the truth needs to get out there.

Based on meetings and conversations with USPS consultants, safety personnel, managers, and workers the following conclusions can be made:

1. The DBCS machines presently in use by the USPS (four tiers, 201 stackers) present the same or greater risk of injury to workers as the three-tiered DBCS machines evaluated by NIOSH in 1991-92.

2. The USPS recognizes the need to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders at its facilities by identifying new and better methods for workers who perform mail processing tasks.

3. The ERRP and other engineering/administrative strategies are sound and logical approaches to achieving the goal of lower incidences of musculoskeletal disorders.

4. The engineering controls developed under the ERRP initiative are more likely to result in long term reductions in injuries and musculoskeletal disorders than the administrative methods which do not eliminate the hazards or design shortcomings that resulted in high incidences of musculoskeletal disorders. Most of the controls developed for the DBCS machine have been administrative in nature.

In addition to the conclusions listed above and the recommendations contained in the attached HHE report, the following is recommended for the DBCS machines:

1. Conduct periodic training and monitoring of worker activities to reinforce safe work practices that have been taught and developed at the USPS.

2. Rotate workers frequently between the feeder and sweeping positions. Rotation should take place at least once per hour, but more frequent rotation such as every 30 or 45 minutes may be more beneficial to workers.

3. The feeder should occasionally stop loading new mail into the DBCS and help the sweeper to ensure that the amount of mail accumulated in the stackers does not exceed desired levels.

4. Encourage workers to use sound work practices like the PowerLift while working on the DBCS machines, particularly at the feeder position where the wide stance and lift with the legs techniques are most applicable.

5. Determine and implement a mail processing rate of work which will prevent workers from sustaining injury. This can be established either through time and motion studies or by manipulating numbers of pieces of mail processed per hour or per day until injury rates are under control. As noted in the Discussion section above, reducing the rate of work is the most effective administrative means of injury control when engineering controls are not implemented, such as in the case of the DBCS.

This letter closes our file on these health hazard evaluation requests. NIOSH recommends that employers post a copy of this letter for 30 days at or near work areas of affected employees. more from

NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Update- Denver GMF (source: NIOSH) NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation - Denver GMF 1992 (PDF) or http://www2a.cdc.gov/hhe/select.asp?PjtName=13633&bFlag=0&ID=15