Washington – U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin (R-WY) last night voted to require the Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to wait for the completion of an ongoing National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study before handing down any guidelines or standards on workplace ergonomics. H.R. 987, the Workplace Preservation Act, was approved by a 217 to 209 vote and requires that a sound scientific study precede any ergonomics regulation issued by OSHA. Because ergonomics can be applied to virtually anything that comes into human contact, a federal mandate would drastically affect every American business.

"Rather than wait for the results of the NAS study, OSHA is moving ahead with an unscientific and vague regulation that could eliminate thousands of jobs and cost consumers and businesses billions of dollars," said Cubin. "Wyoming small businesses are already struggling to deal with a vast array of onerous federal rules and regulations. It is essential that a sound scientific study is completed before even considering this broad federal mandate on the business community."

Continued Cubin, "Just last year Congress and the President agreed to spend the taxpayers money on an independent study. I am as concerned about repetitive stress injuries as anyone, but I believe OSHA should take this scientific data into consideration before seeking to further regulate American businesses."

Ergonomics, or human engineering, is concerned with designing and arranging things people use on the job (computer keypads, tools, telephones, lighting, work space, etc.) or at home so that people and things interact more efficiently and safely. Last year, Congress and the President agreed to spend nearly $1 million on a comprehensive and independent study by the NAS to examine the relationship that may exist between work and repetitive stress injuries. That study is expected to be completed in the year 2001.

However, OSHA decided not to wait for the study and instead released a draft of workplace ergonomic standards in February, with plans to finalize a workplace ergonomics standard by the year 2000. Cubin said it has been estimated that an ergonomics regulation will cost billions of dollars, with some industries estimating their own costs as high as $18 to $30 billion. She added that any regulation with this potential impact on the Nation's economy merits a sound scientific and medical foundation.