Copyright 2000 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)
November 14, 2000, Tuesday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY; Page A62
LENGTH: 490 words
HEADLINE:
NEW STANDARD ON INJURIES
BYLINE: REUTERS
BODY:
The Clinton administration put in place
yesterday a final safety standard, vigorously opposed by business, which it says
will prevent 460,000 painful workplace injuries a year caused by repetitive
motion.
By announcing the final ergonomics standard now and having it
take effect on Jan. 16, just before a new president is inaugurated on Jan. 20,
the administration acted before a possible George W. Bush administration could
delay or kill it.
But Charles Jeffress, head of the Labor Department's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, insisted that
the timing of the implementation of the standard had nothing to do with the
possibility of an incoming Republican administration that is likely to oppose
it. "The schedule, if you will, was set before there was any thought about who
the candidates were going to be in the election," Jeffress said in an interview.
OSHA has been researching an ergonomic standard since 1990,
except in 1995, when it was blocked from doing so by the Republican-controlled
Congress.
OSHA originally proposed the standard last
Nov. 23 and made several changes to it in the final version, following nine
weeks of public hearings and a review of other public comments. "It's the
culmination of a 10-year process," Jeffress said. "We have done the studies; we
have heard from the public."
The ergonomics standard requires employers
of more than 102 million workers at 6.1 million work sites to take steps to
prevent so-called musculoskeletal disorders, or repetitive strain injuries, such
as carpal tunnel syndrome or back injuries caused by repeated motion on the job.
Companies will have to advise their workers of possible injury risks and
the importance of prompt reporting of symptoms, but are not required to actually
change the way work is done unless an employee is hurt on the job or has
symptoms of a work-related injury, OSHA said.
Business
groups, calling the rules rushed, scientifically weak and a payoff to labor
unions, said they would challenge them in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia. Baruch Fellner, an attorney pressing the suit by the
National Association of Manufacturers and other groups, said the rules are too
vague and are not supported by science, that OSHA's economic
analysis is "fatally flawed" and that the agency violated procedures in
developing the standard.
"We fully expect to prevail in this lawsuit,"
Fellner said.
OSHA estimates companies will have to fix
18 million jobs in the next 10 years, cutting in half the number of
musculoskeletal disorders. The government estimates employers will have to spend
$ 4.5 billion a year on training, administration and workplace alterations to
comply with the standard. Business groups said OSHA has greatly
underestimated the true cost of the rules, which some business organizations put
at as high has $ 125.6 billion a year.
LOAD-DATE: November 14, 2000
