Congress Kills Ergonomics Rule

The Senate and Congress both voted (3/6 & 3/7/01) to repeal OSHA’s Ergonomic Standard. The regulations were aimed at preventing repetitive motion injuries.

Voting was mostly along party lines. The House voted to repeal the regulation 223 votes to 206 votes, and the Senate voted 56 to 44 for repeal.

The OSHA ergonomics regulations would have required employers to take several measures to prevent repetitive stress injuries, including training workers about such problems. It would also have required them to redesign jobs if the cause of injury resulted in days away from work, restricted work or medical treatment beyond first aid.

The rule would have required employers to pay 90% of an injured employee’s wages if that person could no longer work after sustaining an injury from lifting, pushing, pulling or repeating a motion on the job or task. Employees who were injured but were placed on a restricted job were guaranteed 100% of their wages under the rule.

OSHA estimated the annual cost of compliance to be $4.5 billion. Several studies dispute these figures, estimating the annual cost would be at least 2.5 times higher, and possibly 15 times higher than OSHA’s projections.

The Small Business Administration claimed that the cost of the additional regulations would damage small businesses more than big businesses.

It’s Not Over Yet

The Standard may have been repealed but it’s not over yet. A new law is being drafted as we speak. But even if it never passes, an ergonomics program is good business. It controls Workers’ Compensation costs, improves productivity, and enhances quality of life in the workplace.

We at Lovell fully support our members in their efforts to develop effective programs. We have created a flow chart to assist you.

Job Hazard Analysis First, using OSHA’s risk factors, determine if the risk for an MSD exists.
If Yes	If Yes	If No
Establish priorities	Establish priorities	Train employees to recognize & report early symptoms of MSDs.
Establish procedures to correct or control risk factors	Training for both employee & management
Engineering controls: work station design, tools, equipment
Work practices: proper lifting, use of tools
Personal protective equipment: knee pads, gloves, etc.

If you have any questions on this or any other safety and health issue, please call your local area representative or the Lovell Safety Office at Lovell Safety Management 212/709-8600.

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