Auburn student’s ergonomics model helps GM produce ventilators

Published: August 07, 2020

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When the government invoked the Defense Production Act, the manufacturing of ventilators and other important medical equipment to aid in the fight against the novel coronavirus was taken up by multiple automotive companies, including General Motors. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a GM production line that normally produced automotive parts was rapidly transformed to produce ventilators.

To ensure that the physical demands of the new ventilator line did not place workers at an unacceptable risk of injury, GM relied upon a new ergonomics evaluation model developed by Murray Gibson, Auburn University doctoral student in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s Occupational Safety and Ergonomics Program. Gibson’s model is the Recommended Cumulative Recovery Allowance (RCRA).

Read more about the RCRA and how GM is incorporating it to produce ventilators.

Submitted by: Cassie Montgomery