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Dealer's illness called frequent
Sunday, January 09,
2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Repetitive stress
injuries occur quite often and are sloughed
off by casinos, an association president says.
By Caren Benjamin
Review-Journal
Every day, in casinos around the city, hundreds of employees make
the same movement hundreds of times. They rub their thumbs over
the top of a deck, then flick their wrists slightly, handing a
player a stroke of good luck or temporary misfortune.
Extreme, repetitive stress injuries are a common problem among
blackjack dealers, and one that is routinely sloughed off by
casino management, said Tony Badillo, president of the Nevada
Dealers Association.
"We have approached the casinos when people call us to
complain, and the hotels don't pay attention. They laugh at
us," said Badillo, who used to wear supporting bands on his
wrists and elbows to ease the pain when he dealt blackjack.
Casino officials, on the other hand, say they rarely hear of
repetitive stress complaints and can easily help workers cope with
them if they do.
As a result, Badillo claims, those who complain at all do so
quietly for fear of losing their jobs. That could change, though
probably not in the very near future.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in
November proposed workplace rules that would require many
employers to provide ergonomically correct working environments.
The proposal could cover an estimated 27 million people who work
at computers, on assembly lines, or at other jobs that require
either repetitive motion or heavy lifting.
Whether blackjack dealing and running other casino games will fall
under the new standard seems likely, said Danny Evans, chief
administrator for the state's OSHA enforcement programs.
Carpal tunnel is caused by the compression of the median nerve in
the wrist. This nerve supplies sensation to the thumb side of the
palm and to the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger and the
thumb side of the ring finger.
For a condition to be covered under OSHA rules, it must be
diagnosed and clearly linked to workplace activity.
Certainly the motion involved in dealing blackjack could cause
injury and possibly carpal tunnel, said Sheree Gibson, an
ergonomic consultant in Greenville, S.C.
"I can imagine working four or five hours doing that
constantly, it would not be unusual to see people start to have
problems," Gibson said.
Yet Las Vegas orthopedic surgeon Arthur Taylor says in his
practice he doesn't "see dealers having a larger percentage
of carpal tunnel than the regular population." In fact, he
doesn't think dealing can cause the condition.
Carpal tunnel is caused by both repetition and load, explained
Taylor, who works with experts around the country studying how
workplace conditions may affect the hand. The load, a single card
or deck, is insignificant for blackjack dealers. As for
repetition, "you'd be surprised if you actually look at a
dealer that their motions can vary quite a bit and they are given
significant rest times."
More often, what he says he sees is dealers coming in with
tendonitis caused by some outside activity that may get aggravated
on the job.
Dealers' Association Vice President Jack Lipsman says he believes
local doctors are reluctant to diagnose casino workers with
repetitive stress injuries lest they anger the business owners and
be taken off lucrative provider lists.
"The power of the dollar. You are not going to find too many
doctors in the area to promote the thesis that it is repetitive
motion that causes problems," said Lipsman.
Wrist and arm injuries are simply not a common complaint among
dealers, said Alan Feldman, spokesman for Mirage Resorts Inc.
"I'm not saying it's not possible," just that it's not
something he has heard much about.
Of the 30,000 casino employees with Mandalay Resort Group,
"we've had very few people complaining of carpal
tunnel," company spokeswoman Sarah Ralston said.
Certainly if someone complained of a repetitive stress injury
"we'd try to accommodate that as best we could,"
according to Feldman. Over the next year the federal government
will hold several hearings around the country to get comments from
businesses and others potentially affected by the ergonomic rules.
Evans guesses it could be as long as three to four years before
the standards are actually in place.
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