Copyright 1999 The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus
Dispatch
November 23, 1999, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 717 words
HEADLINE:
NEW REPETITIVE- STRESS RULES URGED BUSINESSES WORRY GOVERNMENT'S PLAN WILL BE
TOO COSTLY
BYLINE: Lornet Turnbull, Dispatch Business
Reporter
BODY:
The federal government is
proposing new rules that it says will lessen the chance of repetitive-motion
injuries for 27 million Americans who labor on computers or assembly lines.
"Real people are suffering real injuries that can disable their bodies
and destroy their lives,'' Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman said yesterday. "The
good news is that real solutions are available.''
The measure, announced
yesterday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
is drawing opposition from businesses.
Businesses face an estimated $
4.2 billion in annual costs to fix job sites and pay workers recovering from
injuries, opponents say. Moreover, the proposal would fail to assure the
prevention of even one injury, said Al Lundeen, director of the National
Coalition of Ergonomics, an employer group.
"Under the
OSHA proposal, workplaces would now become laboratories for
government experimentation,'' he added.
Existing workplace safety
regulations are aimed mainly at preventing mishaps, such as falls. The new rules
would require employers to minimize everyday physical -- or ergonomic --
stresses of certain jobs.
That could include jobs that require lifting
patients from a hospital bed to handling baggage at the airport to typing in
claims forms.
Fewer than 30 percent of employers have effective
ergonomics programs in place, the government said.
The proposed
regulations, long promised by the Clinton administration, had been delayed for
years as the Republican-controlled Congress, under pressure from business
groups, repeatedly passed legislation requiring more scientific studies.
The House voted to put another hold on the rules this fall, but the
Senate adjourned for the year Friday without acting. After lawmakers left town
this weekend, the administration rushed to roll out its proposal.
The
Labor Department says that 1.8 million workers annually suffer work-related
"musculoskeletal disorders'' which includes such things as carpal tunnel or neck
and back strain. Some 600,000 people miss some work because of them, it said.
In Ohio, back strain -- the No. 1 work- place-related injury --
represented $ 200 million of the $ 1.7 billion in claims in 1996, said Jim
Samuel, spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Under
the federal proposal, businesses would be required to create a program to
identify problems and teach employees what to guard against. Additionally, the
standards will require employers to improve conditions at work once a worker has
reported an ergonomic injury.
Employees who must be assigned to lighter
duty during recovery from ergonomic injury would be guaranteed normal pay and
benefits. A worker who must leave the job altogether would be guaranteed 90
percent pay and full benefits during recovery.
Peter Wray, executive
director of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, said the regulation is
long overdue.
"We represent a lot of clerical employees who end up
sitting in front of a computer terminals for long stretches,'' Wray said.
"Anecdotally, we hear lots of complaints about carpal tunnel, neck
injuries.''
Across central Ohio, a number of companies have built safety
programs stressing ergonomics.
"In some ways we exceed the new
proposals,'' said Ron Lietzke, spokesman for Honda of America Manufacturing in
Marysville.
Honda, for example, has someone assigned to address
ergonomics at its assembly plants, Lietzke said. And the company also provides
information to associates about the risks of their jobs as well as training on
prevention.
Dave Cowden, a coordinator at Longaberger, told participants
at town meetings across the state this summer that the new rule won't be too
great a change for his company.
Longaberger has a full-time safety
department and recommends stretching frequently and reporting of
repetitive-stress injuries.
The company also has an
on-site health center to assist employees. "We for years now have been trying to
be extremely proactive with ergonomics,'' Cowden said.
The proposed
rules, scheduled to be published in today's Federal Register, cannot become
final before next year following a comment period that will include hearings in
Washington and other cities starting in February.
Wire services
contributed to this story.
LOAD-DATE: November 24, 1999
