| Washington, DC — Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy
Blunt's measure to delay implementation of unfounded ergonomic
rules by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
until they are based on sound science is headed for a summer vote on
the floor of the House. The measure has won approval from the
Committee on Education and the Workforce on a 23-18
vote. Blunt's proposal--The Workplace Preservation Act
(H.R. 987)--would block the proposed OSHA rules until a scientific
study by the National Academy of Sciences on the relationship
between work conditions and repetitive stress injuries is completed
next year.
"H.R. 987 is a very simple bill, and if we went out and explained
this legislation to most people, they would wonder what the debate
is about," said House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman
William Goodling (R-PA). "It directs that OSHA not promulgate a
proposed or final standard on ergonomics until the National Academy
of Sciences has completed a study, which is already
underway." OSHA estimates the regulation would cost
American businesses $3.5 billion per year.
Blunt and the 155 co-sponsors of H.R. 987 contend the proposed
OSHA rules lack scientific evidence establishing a link between
repetitive stress injuries and work conditions. Blunt called
again for OSHA to "wait for the independent scientific data from the
National Academy of Sciences before imposing these new rules on
American business. This is a text book case of bad rule
making: make the rule first - get the hard scientific data
later." Blunt said, "The new federal rules will cost business
billions of dollars with no guarantee of preventing a single
repetitive stress injury. I fear these new rules will put a
lot of American workers out of a job and make American business less
competitive in the world marketplace without benefit to American
worker safety."
National Federation of Independent Businesses' (NFIB) Vice
President of Federal Public Policy Dan Danner said, "Seventy-nine
percent of NFIB members do not want OSHA to move ahead with an
ergonomics regulation because there is insufficient evidence to
justify such a sweeping new federal regulation. Current data
does not show how an ergonomics standard will definitively improve
worker safety. Yet, OSHA is determined to force small
employers to spend millions of dollars complying with its unproven
ergonomics standard." NFIB represents over 600,000 small- and
independent-business owners in all 50 states.
Blunt explained, "Every business owner in American, regardless of
their size, should be concerned. If this bill isn't passed,
any business that has employees involved in manual-handling
operations could be forced to establish ergonomics programs.
The OSHA standard would be triggered in almost any business
where a single ergonomics injury is reported. The cost of
compliance would run into the billions of dollars, making American
workers less productive and less efficient." | 
