Copyright 1999 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
November 23, 1999, Tuesday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 1
LENGTH:
1117 words
HEADLINE: OSHA reaches to
help workers ;
Industry leaders will resist proposals for limiting
repetitive stress injuries
SOURCE:
Staff
BYLINE: DAVID IVANOVICH, Houston Chronicle
Washington Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON - The Labor Department Monday
proposed new, far-reaching rules aimed at curbing job-related back and
repetitive stress injuries by forcing employers to alter work
environments to better fit the physical limitations of their employees.
Labor officials estimate the new rules would affect 27 million workers
at 1.9 million work sites across the country and could spare an estimated
300,000 employees annually from painful musculoskeletal dis-orders such as back
injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome.
"We are compelled to act," said
Charles Jeffress, assistant secretary of Labor and head of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "Employees are
getting hurt."
The new rules would apply ergonomics, a relatively young
science that attempts to adapt assembly lines, office furniture and other
working conditions to better suit the worker, to help employees avoid
work-related injuries.
An estimated 1.8 million American employees, from
cashiers to poultry workers, nurses to mail sorters, suffer musculoskeletal
injuries each year on the job, Labor officials said. About 600,000 are hurt
seriously enough to require time off from work.
Such injuries can
prevent a victim from performing even simple tasks such as combing hair or
pushing a shopping cart. Women experience a disproportionate share of these
injuries, including 70 percent of carpal tunnel cases and 62 percent of
tendinitis cases.
Labor officials estimate complying with the new rules
would cost American businesses about $ 4.2 billion a year. Employers, regulators
figure, would spend an average $ 150 per work station each year to address
ergonomic problems. And they estimate that by addressing ergonomic problems,
employers could save more than $ 9 billion annually in workers' compensation
claims.
"This is the smart thing to do because good ergonomics is good
economics," Labor Secretary Alexis Herman said Monday.
But business
leaders scoffed at the administration's cost projections. Kevin Burke, a
lobbyist for the Food Distributors International, a trade group representing 242
grocery wholesale and food service distribution companies, called the
government's estimates "absolutely ludicrous."
Burke pointed to a study
that suggested his industry alone would incur $ 26 billion in costs the first
year and $ 6 billion annually thereafter.
Business groups vowed to fight
the proposal, both on Capitol Hill and in the courts if necessary. They
criticized the new rules as being too broad and too vague, and they blasted
Labor Department officials for failing to wait until after the National Academy
of Sciences completes an on-going study on ergonomics and job-related injuries
before moving forward.
"Frankly, they're afraid of what the results may
be," said Randy Johnson, vice president of labor policy for the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce.
Burke conceded, however, that even if the National Academy
throws its support behind the proposed rules, business interests plan to fight
in court.
"The Food Distributors International does not need
OSHA's help on how to run our warehouses safely," Burke said.
The proposed ergonomics rules are targeted primarily at manufacturing
jobs and those occupations requiring manual handling such as lifting and
carrying.
The guidelines would grandfather in companies that have their
own ergonomics programs - currently about 28 percent of all workplaces in
general industry.
And they would allow a company that experiences a
work-related injury to provide a "quick fix" to a problem area without
implementing a full ergonomics program, as long as the employer eliminates the
hazard within 120 days and does not suffer a similar injury within three years.
"The solutions are usually simple," Jeffress said. "They're obvious and
relatively inexpensive."
The proposals also would ensure that workers
who are forced to take time off work because of musculo-skeletal injuries
incurred on the job receive 90 percent of their pay and 100 percent of their
benefits. Employees transferred to lighter duties would be guaranteed full pay
and benefits.
The regulations as proposed would not apply to the
agriculture, construction or maritime industries, three sectors with long
histories of work-related injuries. "We will address them at a later time,"
Jeffress said.
Labor officials plan to hold at least three hearings on
the proposals next year. Herman said she hopes to have a final rule published by
the end of next year, with the new regulations to take effect in 2001.
Monday's announcement was but the latest salvo in an eight-year-long
guerrilla war between the Labor Department and business interests over an
ergonomics rule.
By unveiling the proposed rules just three days after
lawmakers left town for the holidays, the Clinton administration has thrown down
a political challenge to a Republican-controlled Congress hostile to any new
ergonomics rule.
The House has already passed a bill which would force
regulators to wait until the National Academy of Sciences completes its report
before publishing rule changes, while Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., believes he
has enough support for a similar measure in the Senate.
The agency is
"almost thumbing its nose at Congress' intent," the Chamber's Johnson said.
Union leaders applauded the administration's decision to move forward.
"Despite an unrelenting and mean-spirited campaign by big business
groups and anti-worker members of Congress to block these important protections,
the public will finally have a chance to be heard," John Sweeney, president of
the AFL-CIO, said in a prepared statement Monday.
Rising injury rates
Incidence
rates for disorders associated with repeated trauma, including carpal tunnel
syndrome and other conditions that result from repetitive motions.
Incidence rate per 10,000 full-time employees
1986 - 6.4
1987 - 10
1988 - 15.4
1989 -
19.2
1990 - 24.1
1991 - 29.7
1992 - 36.8
1993 -
38.3
1994 - 41.1
1995 - 37.8
Workplace numbers
25 / Median
number of workdays an employee misses because of carpal tunnel syndrome.
42 / Percent of carpal tunnel syndrome cases that result in more that30
days away from work.
50 / Percent of U.S. employees who are not covered
by a company ergonomics program.
70 / Percent of all lost workday carpal
tunnel syndrome cases suffered by women.
$ 150 / Average annual cost to
an employer for altering a job so that it will not cause a work-related
musculoskeletal disorder.
600,000 / Number of injuries involving lost
workdays per year due to musculosketal disorders.
1.8 million / Number
of U.S. workers who annually suffer musculoskeletal disorders.
GRAPHIC:
Graphs: 1. Rising injury rates (color, text); 2. Workplace numbers (b/w, p. 8,
text); 1. Edwin Louie / Chronicle, Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey of
Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 1986-1995, 2. Edwin Louie / Chronicle,
Source: Occupational Safety & Health Administration
LOAD-DATE: November 24, 1999 
