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Copyright 2000 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.  
The Plain Dealer

November 11, 2000 Saturday, FINAL / ALL

SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 13A

LENGTH: 848 words

HEADLINE: U.S. TO ISSUE WORKPLACE ERGONOMIC RULES

BYLINE: By CINDY SKRZYCKI; WASHINGTON POST

DATELINE: WASHINGTON



BODY:
The Clinton administration is expected to issue a final rule Monday requiring the nation's employers to create programs to protect workers from the repetitive strains and pain of the workplace.

The sweeping standard, eight years in the making, is the most costly ever to come out of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It will cover some 6 million workplaces and more than 100 million workers in nearly every line of business.

The rule is so bitterly opposed by industry groups that a congressional move to block its unveiling torpedoed a year-end budget agreement with the White House two weeks ago, forcing a lame-duck session of Congress. Lawyers for trade associations said they will sue to overturn the rule as soon as it is published.

The rule mandates that the science of ergonomics be adopted in the workplace, requiring employers to better fit jobs to the physical limitations of their workers. OSHA officials said their goal was to cut in half over the next decade the 600,000 repetitive stress injuries that result in lost work time each year.

The hospital, restaurant, grocery, and trucking and courier industries will need to make the most changes in the workplace, OSHA predicted. The rule also targets the millions of workers who sit in front a computer screen all day, typing and using a mouse.

Possible solutions include changes to the height of a manufacturing line to prevent workers from constant reaching or giving new keyboards or furniture to provide support for workers who type all day.

"We have recognized that musculoskeletal disorders are a significant part of the injuries and illness in America," said Charles Jeffress, the assistant secretary of Labor who heads OSHA. "We have needed a better tool to address this. These injuries have declined, but they still remain a third of all workplace injuries."

OSHA said there are 1.8 million musculoskeletal disorders reported annually, including carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis - which affect women the most - as well as sciatica and low-back pain. The agency estimates there actually are twice as many injuries, but half aren't reported because workers fear losing pay or their jobs.

"Science is clear that the more you repeat a motion, the more likely you are to get hurt, though the number of repetitions for each person may be different," Jeffress said.

Beginning next October, employers will have to inform their workers about these kinds of workplace ailments and how they can report them. Employees who have a work-related injury would have to receive medical attention and time off with pay. And the employer would have to work at eliminating or lessening the hazard that caused the problem.

Employer groups say they are ready to challenge the rule.

Stephen Bokat, vice president and general counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the rule exceeded OSHA's authority.

"It's unconstitutionally vague, and there is no scientific basis for the standard," Bokat said.

Some business interests believe that if George Bush is elected president, Congress might invalidate the rule, using the Congressional Review Act for the first time. Congress would be less likely to prevail in invalidating the rule if Al Gore wins the presidency.

The cost to employers, according to the agency's calculations, will be $4.5 billion annually. That includes an average of about $250 to fix each workstation. But the agency said the adjustments will save employers $9.1 billion annually because of a reduction in cases of long-term disabilities and lost productivity.

Business interests counter that the cost of altering the workplace, paying benefits to workers who are injured and setting up ergonomics programs will be anywhere from $18 billion to $125.6 billion a year.

The idea of having employers implement ergonomics programs dates to the early 1980s. The Clinton administration finally proposed a rule last November and then heard voluminous testimony on the scientific issues involved. It also spent four years fighting business-inspired congressional attempts to delay it.

Business groups have argued that a rule is unnecessary because repetitive stress injuries are declining. They point to Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that cases of carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis have decreased annually since 1994.

Corporate lobbyists note that about one in four workplaces already has some kind of ergonomics program in place, providing workers with adjustments to their workstations, engineering changes in how jobs are designed and limiting the time a worker spends on one job.

OSHA and unionized labor said the decline also may be attributable to enforcement actions the government has taken since the 1980s against the meatpacking, poultry and auto industries. Some of those companies now have model ergonomic programs.

Jeffress said there has been a decline in all workplace injuries, but that is not reason enough to drop the initiative.

"We have learned there is a point where regulation is required to get everyone on the same playing field," he said.

LOAD-DATE: November 14, 2000




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