Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
November 11, 2000, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A01
LENGTH: 1555 words
HEADLINE:
U.S. to Issue Repetitive Stress Rule; Business, OSHA Dispute
Cost of Workplace Changes
BYLINE: Cindy Skrzycki ,
Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
The
Clinton administration is expected to issue a final rule Monday requiring
virtually all the nation's employers to create programs to protect workers from
the repetitive strains and pain of the workplace.
The sweeping new
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 many industry groups
that a congressional move to block its unveiling torpedoed a year-end budget
agreement with the White House two weeks ago, forcing the lame-duck session of
Congress. Lawyers for trade associations said they will sue to overturn the rule
as soon as it is published.
The final rule--a copy of which was obtained
by The Washington Post--mandates that the science of ergonomics be brought to
the workplace, requiring employers to better fit jobs to the physical
limitations of their workers. OSHA officials said their goal is
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 of a computer screen all day,
typing and using a mouse.
Possible solutions include changing 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 also 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. "I can't wait
to be in court. This is a wonderful target," said Baruch Fellner, a partner with
Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher who represents a coalition of business groups opposing
it. "This standard would not pass Jay Leno's yuck test."
Stephen Bokat,
vice president and general counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, "It
exceeds their [OSHA officials'] statutory authority, it's
unconstitutionally vague and there is no scientific basis for the standard."
Some business interests believe that if George W. Bush is elected
president, Congress might invalidate the final 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.
Robb
MacKie, vice president of government relations for the American Bakers
Association, for example, estimated that the rule would cost baking companies $
116 million a year. Firms would have to pay up to $ 50,000 each for equipment to
automate baking lines so sections can be raised or lowered to meet the height of
employees, he said.
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
took 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.
OSHA did make changes in the final rule in response to
business criticisms that the proposed rule was too broad and too vague. Just how
many hours scanning groceries cause a problem? How many pounds are too many for
workers in a warehouse to lift? And if a worker does have aches and pains, how
do you prove they are work-related?
"The biggest beef we have is the
absolute inability [on the part of business] to discern what part of any injury
is attributable to work and non-work factors," said Patrick Cleary, vice
president of human resources policy for the National Association of
Manufacturers. "If you have tennis elbow only from playing tennis and something
at work aggravates it, the employer is on the hook. It's the blurring of the
line between workplace and non-workplace that worries us most."
OSHA apparently attempted to respond to those concerns
by offering guidance to employers on how to evaluate complaints. The agency also
trimmed the amount of time companies would have to pay workers with ergonomic
injuries from six months to 90 days.
Employers now would be able pay for
the time off using any combination of leave and insurance disability payments, a
provision that wasn't in the proposed rule. The final rule also includes
guidelines that lets employers know when they made enough progress to meet
OSHA requirements. And companies would have up to four years to
implement programs, instead of three as was originally proposed.
But
OSHA also changed the proposal to provide immediate coverage to
more workers. The rule won't yet cover about 5 million workers in the
agriculture, construction and maritime industries.
Unions support the
rule, but wanted a stronger version that would have required employers with
hazardous working conditions to institute ergonomic programs even before an
injury was reported.
"After a 10-year struggle, it's an important action
to protect workers that is long overdue," said Peg Seminario, director of safety
and health for the AFL-CIO.
Rule Would Take Into Account
a Firm's Pattern of Injuries
Though almost every business would
be covered by OSHA's final ergonomics rule, some employers
would likely have to do little more than inform their workers of the new
standard. Those with an existing ergonomics program could use it to reduce
problem jobs. Others, who identify a single injured worker, could do a "quick
fix" within 90 days and not have to implement a far-reaching program.
But if there are two reports of injuries in the same job category within
18 months, the full requirements of the rule are triggered. Determining whether
the injury is work related then requires a two-step procedure.
First,
employers would use an OSHA "screening tool" to see if the job
routinely exposes workers to too much repetition, force or awkward postures. For
example, risk factors would be using a keyboard or mouse for more than four
hours in a workday, lifting more than 55 pounds 10 times a day or kneeling or
squatting for more than two hours a day.
If a job falls into one of
those categories, the employer must do a more complicated analysis of the
hazards. If certain risk factors still exist, the company must implement a full
ergonomics program, including participation by management and worker, training
and reducing hazards in that workplace.
Injured employees must be given
access to a health-care professional and receive 90 percent of their pay for at
least 90 days if they can't work. Workers put on light duty get 100 percent of
pay.
LOAD-DATE: November 17, 2000
