Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
February 20, 1999, Saturday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 15
LENGTH: 1180 words
HEADLINE:
WORKPLACE RULES AIM TO CUT REPETITIVE-MOTION INJURIES
BYLINE: Judith Vandewater; Of The Post-Dispatch
BODY:
* Federal government proposes
standards that could force businesses to change work stations or redesign
facilities.
The federal government announced Friday a draft of
workplace-safety standards aimed at preventing repetitive-motion injuries.
The standards are intended to prevent injuries like Cynthia Steenberg's
carpal tunnel syndrome. Steenberg, a 45-year-old administrative assistant at
Washington University, says she ignored the tingling numbness in her hands until
a glass she was holding shattered on her kitchen floor. She had not felt it slip
from her fingers.
Now, she undergoes physical therapy twice a week and
gets cortisone treatments for the inflamed tendons in her wrist.
Musculoskeletal disorders such as Steenberg's account for 34 percent of
all work days lost to injuries and illness, and for $ 1 of every $ 3 paid out in
workers compensation claims.
If approved, the standards could force some
employers, mainly in the industrial sector, to alter work stations, redesign
facilities or change tools and equipment.
Business groups said they
oppose the standards. "This hopelessly vague draft is a blank check for
OSHA inspectors," said Peter Eide, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce's manager for labor law. "It would require all American businesses to
become full-time experts in ergonomics, a field for which there is little if any
credible evidence."
The AFL-CIO said that it likes the regulations but
that they should be strengthened and should apply to more industries. The
construction, maritime and agriculture industries are exempt from the proposal.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is
seeking comments on the draft. The agency said the policy could change
dramatically before it publishes proposed standards in the Federal Register
later this year.
The draft standards draw on the experience of thousands
of companies that have started programs to reduce repetitive-strain injuries.
The standards cover manufacturing operations and manual handling operations
where employees are routinely required to lift objects or people. And they may
be applied to most workplaces, including offices, if a work-related
repetitive stress injury is reported after the standards take
effect.
The proposed standards may spark a political fight. Rep. Cass
Ballenger, R-N.C., chairman of a House panel on work force protections, said he
would fight against what he called the "ill-conceived" regulation until there is
scientific proof to back it up.
"Medical researchers must answer
fundamental questions surrounding ergonomics before government regulators impose
a one-size-fits-all solution," Ballenger said.
Congress has put a stop
to such standards before. In 1995, the agency stopped work on a set of draft
standards because of congressional opposition, said Barbara Silverstein, who was
in charge of OSHA's ergonomics rule-making at the time.
"It's well past due," Silverstein said. "We clearly have a lot of
musculoskeletal injuries in this country and workers who are constantly in
trouble because of it."
She now directs research on safety and health
assessment and prevention for Washington state's Department of Labor and
Industries.
The standards require companies to set up an ergonomics
program to identify and control potential hazards before injuries occur. They
also would require ongoing education of supervisors and employees and medical
attention for injured workers.
A worker who suffers a repetitive-strain
injury would be entitled to a transfer, for up to six months at the same salary,
to a job that does not aggravate the injury.
Ergonomics refers to the
fit between people and the machines and products they use. Lynn Strother,
executive director of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society in Santa
Monica, Calif., said that principles of ergonomics are employed in the design of
everything from a toothbrush to a control room in a nuclear plant.
Strother said that whatever costs a manufacturer incurs in designing
user-friendly equipment pays off in reduced workers' compensation claims.
Dr. Scott Jones, corporate medical director for SSM Corporate Health
Services in St. Louis, said most large employers understand the economic benefit
of reducing workplace injury. The proposed regulation could make small and
medium-sized companies more focused on prevention and education, an advancement
he applauds.
Jones said that researchers are unclear about what causes
repetitive stress injury or why, when two people perform the
same task, only one may develop the disorder.
The medical literature
shows that carpal tunnel syndrome may be related more to aging than to
occupation, Jones said. Only meatpacking, a job that is performed in a
refrigerated plant, has been definitely linked to the development of carpal
tunnel.
Back injuries, which would also be covered under the proposed
regulations, also may be more of a degenerative than an occupational hazard,
Jones said.
Jones said OSHA appears to be calling for
problems associated with the degenerative processes of aging to be attacked as
work-related problems and addressed by design and worker education.
Paula Bohr, director of the occupational health and ergonomics
laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine, said that while more
workers are becoming aware of cumulative stress injuries, most still do not seek
attention for joint stiffness, or limited motion, until their pain or limited
mobility interferes with their ability to perform.
"Most of us have been
raised with the concept that aches and pains are a normal part of working life."
Sometimes something as simple as changing the grip on a tool can prevent
cumulative trauma injury, she said.
Jones said that employers can cut
down on repetitive injuries by adjusting a work station to fit a worker, or
simply teaching employees to use equipment correctly.
"We say, let's
look at where you are having injuries. Let's not catch mice. Let's plug up the
holes."
Robert J. Kelley, president of the St. Louis Labor Council
AFL-CIO, said computer terminals are the workbenches of the 1990s. "This is a
far more subtle way of incurring injury, but it is as debilitating. Take a look
at supermarket checkers the next time you are shopping and you will find at
least one checker wearing a wrist brace."
Marty Yadon is executive
director of CompManagement, a managed-care health network operated by HealthLink
Inc. About 20,000 employers with a combined work force of 450,000 employees use
the CompManagement network in Missouri and central and Southern Illinois. Yadon
said CompManagement registers about six new carpal tunnel cases a month.
Glenda Krupp, President of Double G Ham Co. in Pacific, said that she
and her partner and brother, Greig Gatzert, added ergonomically designed knives
when they built a new plant in 1997. The goal was to reduce strain on workers'
wrists.
Krupp said the company also switches tasks among its 15 workers
to reduce the opportunity for repetitive stress injuries. "We
want healthy employees," she said.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO Photo
by WENDI FITZGERALD / POST-DISPATCH - Tina Brooks stretches to put grocery items
onto a checkout conveyor belt at Schnucks Supermarket on Cass Avenue, north of
downtown. Store manager Jerry Birke said checkers no longer are required to lift
groceries from the cart.
LOAD-DATE: February 20,
1999 
