Copyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago
Sun-Times
November 14, 2000, TUESDAY, Late
Sports Final Edition
SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. 54
LENGTH: 403 words
HEADLINE:
Feds issue new ergonomic rules
SOURCE: Bloomberg News
Service
BYLINE: BY TAMRA SANTANA
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The federal government Monday issued new workplace safety rules related to
injuries from repetitive motion amid protests from business groups that say it
will cost industry $ 100 billion annually.
The rules affect about
one-third of U.S. workers, ranging from office jobs to industrial assembly
lines, and require employers to minimize the risk of repetitive-stress
injuries, such as back disorders and carpal tunnel syndrome.
"Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are the No. 1 workplace injury
in America," said Assistant Secretary of Labor Charles Jeffress. The new rules
will spare 460,000 worker injuries and will save $ 9.1 billion in health-related
costs to workers and employers a year, he said.
The Labor Department has
said implementing the rules would cost employers about $ 4.2
billion -- a "grossly understated" figure, said Randy Johnson, vice
president of labor and employee benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit, seeking a review of the standards as a first step in an effort to get
them overturned.
The National Association of Manufacturers also filed
suit last week in the D.C. Circuit, saying the rules are "unsound procedurally,
scientifically and legally," the group said.
Disputes over the workplace
safety rules helped stall the passage of budget legislation in Congress this
fall. Republicans have tried to block new workplace ergonomic standards until a
new administration and Congress are in place next year.
The ergonomics
rules, which take effect Jan. 16, require employers to minimize the risk of
repetitive-stress injuries by adjusting the height of work
surfaces, repositioning tools, providing mechanical lifting equipment or
offering ergonomic chairs.
The new regulation "will prevent hundreds of
thousands of crippling repetitive strain injuries each year," said John Sweeney,
AFL-CIO president, in a release issued today. "Workers in poultry plants, meat
packing, and auto assembly, along with computer operators, nurse aides, cashiers
and others in high risk jobs will finally have much-needed protection."
Opponents say the rules, issued by the Labor Department's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, aren't based on
scientific or medical data.
More than 600,000 Americans take time off
from work due to ergonomics-related injuries annually, OSHA
says.
LOAD-DATE: November 17, 2000
