Wanda
Jackson’s fingers have almost turned in claws, and she cannot lift
anything heavier than a milk carton. She blames hours of punching
numbers into a computer for creating a "nervy" feeling in her right arm
that has steadily worsened. Eventually she could no longer do her
clerical job, and her bosses let her go.
Jackson
recently began receiving Social Security disability payments, and she
says she is in constant pain.
"Sometimes I
just sit in the church, and it helps me mentally, because my main goal
is to stay calm," says the 41-year-old former employee of Northern
Indiana Public Service Co. in Gary.
Almost a
decade ago, the-Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole, said the government
would set down rules to help protect workers from debilitating workplace
injuries caused by such activities as lifting, pushing, pulling and
repetitive motion.
Nothing ever
came of Dole’s vow and organized labor now is locked with Corporate
America in a political showdown over whether the government finally will
step into the arena of ergonomics, the science of tailoring the
workplace to workers.
More than
600,000 workers yearly suffer ergonomic-related injuries, and their
injuries add up to one-third of all serious injuries, making ergonomic
problems the single largest cause of serious injuries, according to
Charles Jeffress, chief of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, the federal agency that regulates workplace safety.
The bill for
treating these injuries averages about $20billionyearly, and the overall
cost, taking in lost pay and production, Jeffress says, reaches about
$60 billion annually.
The apparent
size of the problem dictates government action, he says. Indeed, many
experts believe the scope of the problem is under-reported. Calculations
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of all work-related injuries and
illnesses requiring at least a day away from work suggest even higher
numbers.
After being
blocked by the Republicans and their business allies for the last few
years from setting an ergonomics rule, OSHA plans to offer a
much-watered down proposal in September.
All of
OSHA’s rules are preventive, requiring companies to adhere to certain
conditions to protect workers, but the ergonomics draft proposal is just
the opposite It requires companies to work out ergonomic solutions after
workers are injured.
The only
exception is for the firms involved in manufacturing and manual labor:
They would need prevention plans.
The decision
of whether an injury is an ergonomic one would also be initially left up
to the employer, a condition that concerns experts who say that firms
can easily sweep the problems aside.
But Jeffress
says medical staff who treat the injured workers will have the power to
say whether the injury was ergonomic or not, and that, he suggests,
should act as a check.
To some
unions’ dismay, the proposal excludes workers in the construction,
maritime and agriculture industries. The reason, according to Jeffress,
is that the government has less experience in these industries’
ergonomic problems.
Still,
business and GOP leaders expect to take steps again to block the agency.
"In our
view, there is no clear cut evidence on the workplace causes
musculoskeletal problems. This is something that could be very
burdensome on small business and small businesses are scared to death,"
says U.S. Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-MO).
Besides
questioning the scientific rationale for a rule, the business community
fears that any government regulation would be cumbersome to deal with
and costly to carry out. It is a complex problem best left, business
lobbyists say, to companies to work out by themselves.
"There is a
general sense of skepticism when it comes to government intrusion in the
workplace," says Ed Gilroy, a lobbyist for the American Trucking
Association and co-chairman of the National Coalition on Ergonomics, a
group formed by more than 200 large companies several years ago to slow
the government’s drive for an ergonomics standard in the workplace.
But OSHA
officials cite dozens of studies over the years and support from most of
the organizations that represent public health and medical professionals
involved in treating workers hurt on the job.
Jeffress
suggests that the roots of the opposition go much deeper than a debate
over ergonomics. Much of it, he says, "comes from people who have
objected to almost every rule OSHA has made."
For the last
few years, the number of ergonomic injuries as reported by the
government, has been dropping, keeping up with an overall decline in
workplace injuries. This is a point often raised by critics who say
there is no reason to rush toward a solution.
But Barbara
Silverstein, an ergonomist for the State of Washington, says the
government’s figures are probably low, since workers’ compensation
claims are tallied differently across the U.S.
Silverstein
points out that in her state, which keeps more detailed workers’
compensation records than most states, ergonomic injuries are steady or
growing." And so, it is somewhat false to say that the problem is being
resolved," she ads.
The most
publicity about ergonomic injuries undoubtedly has gone to Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome, the ailment that often afflicts computer users like Wanda
Jackson who sit for hours doing the same repetitive work at a keyboard.
However,
workers in manufacturing or manual labor jobs who push and pull are
still the ones to suffer the most back, arm and leg injuries from a
sudden exertion or whose injuries build up from doing the same work over
time.
Whatever the
category, many ergonomic injuries go unreported, experts say, because
workers fear they will be let go if they admit their injuries. Or the
workers take their problems to their own physicians and do not report
them to their companies.
But neither
is always true.
When faced
with workers’ complaints several years ago about ergonomic injuries at
the Rockten Co. paper box plant in Madison, Wis., the company heeded the
workers’ concerns, and sought outside help.
Since then,
the problem has significantly abated, says John Velardita, an official
with the Paper Allied Chemical and Energy workers union, which
represents the plant’s employees.
Gary Adreon,
Midwest operations manager for the company, agrees that workers’
complaints have dropped by more than 50 percent since his firm sought
the help of ergonomic experts.
Yet Adreon
is hesitant about a government rule on the issue. "I guess they are
needed in some instances, but government rules don’t make you safe, they
make you caught," he says.
Workplace
Injuries
Number of
work-related injuries and illnesses requiring one or more days away from
work in 1997, by condition:
