Ergonomics, S&H rules on OSHA's front burner
By Staff -- Purchasing, 4/22/1999
There are two major new regulations likely to affect what companies buy on osha's front burner: standards for programs for Safety and Health, due out this summer, and Ergonomics, due out this fall. Both are unlikely to reach the final rule stage until the year 2000, but many larger businesses have already established such programs.Basically both standards will require most businesses subject to osha regs to go further than they have in the past in setting up systems to identify, mitigate, and track progress in reducing injuries and illnesses from workplace hazards.
Even osha acknowledges there will be significant costs for businesses in implementing the rules, but claims that benefits will outweigh these. For companies that already have voluntary S&H programs, osha says, they return $3 in benefits such as reduced workmen's compensation and lost workdays for every $1 spent.
Business groups are particularly taking aim at the ergonomics rule, which covers job factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs include such symptoms as Carpal tunnel syndrome, synovitis, sciatica, trigger finger, tendinitis, and lower back pain. The Labor Department says wmsds account for 34% of all lost-workday injuries and illnesses and $1 for every $3 spent for workers' compensation.
osha already has issued a preliminary draft which focuses heavily on businesses with manufacturing and manual-labor operations (available at osha's Web site, osha.gov under media releases). Companies would have to analyze job classifications or types of tasks in which even one work-related musculoskeletal disorder (wmsd) has been reported. If an identifiable cause is found, the company would have to implement feasible control measures.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls the draft "hopelessly vague" and "extremely burdensome." All companies would be hurt economically, particularly small businesses, it says. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, says the rule as drafted "will cost thousands of jobs, billions of dollars, and do little to prevent the back, neck, wrist, and arm injuries that have emerged in the modern workplace."
The ergo rule is currently being reviewed for small-business impacts by the Office of Management and Budget and the Small Business Administration, after which osha will consider revisions for the rule.
Assuming the main elements of the preliminary draft of the ergo rule are preserved, osha would require companies to implement permanent engineering controls and employ interim personal protective equipment. Examples of engineering controls involve changing, modifying, or redesigning the following, according to osha: workstations, tools, facilities, equipment, materials, and processes. For PPE, osha lists items such as gloves and knee pads. Many businesses have already adopted ergonomic design tools and workstations that reduce strain where repetitive motions, sitting for long periods, or reaching are required. It's not clear yet what companies will be required to do in the way of changes in processes and materials used.
As yet, osha has not published any guidance on what type of solutions or changes might be required under the S&H Program rule, which covers all types of job hazards, whether currently regulated or not.
Manuel Gomez, science director for the American Industrial Hygiene Association, says there is hope that the S&H rule would require more issues to be addressed by a "deliberate and documented system for protection of the worker." The amount of expertise needed, Gomez says, would depend on the nature of a company's operations. "A small- or medium-size company with distinct, very well-established operations, could be run by a management committee with worker participation." In complex, large operations, companies "will have to look to experts to know what needs to be done," he adds.
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