The Clinton
administration issued sweeping new ergonomic safety regulations for
workers Monday including up to 90 days employer paid sick leave for
people injured on the job.
Business
groups denounced the new rules, which go into effect starting January
16, 2001, saying they will cost employers billions of dollars while
doing little to ensure worker safety.
The
regulations are intended to protect workers from ergonomic
injuries-carpal tunnel syndrome, among people who use computer
keyboards, for example, or back injuries among people who load luggage
on aircraft.
Approximately 600,000 people suffer on-the-job ergonomic injuries each
year, at a cost of $9 billion according to government statistics. Many
of them are hurt by jobs requiring repetitious physical movement that
over time causes injury and disability.
The federal
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began work on
ergonomic regulations a decade ago, but, until recently, Congress had
blocked the agency from issuing rules.
Estimates of
the cost to business vary wildly. OSHA says the rules will cost
employers about $4.5 billion a year. The business oriented Employment
Policy Foundation, however, estimates the standards will cost nearly
$126 billion a year.
"We just
didn’t expect nor do we want this sort of regulation during a lame-duck
administration," said Jerry Roper, president of the Chicagoland Chamber
of Commerce. "This is the kind of regulation that is going to be very
costly to business."
Many
businesses, Roper said, expect disgruntled employees to make accusations
to OSHA based on the new regulations simply to cause trouble for their
employers.
But Peg
Seminario, director of safety and health for the AFL-CIO, said the rules
are necessary to curtail workplace injuries that are epidemic in many
occupations.
"About
one-third of all serious workplace injuries are caused by ergonomic
hazards," Seminario said. "Across all sectors of the economy, these
injuries are very, very serious."
The
regulations offer new protection to employees hurt on the job.
An employee
unable to work must be paid 90 percent of earnings and benefits for up
to 90 days while off the job. Employers cannot reduce the wages and
benefits of workers temporarily assigned to light duty or alternative
jobs.
"Employers
must train workers to recognize and report ergonomic injuries. And
employers must investigate such reports, determine if a hazard exists,
and then try to reduce the risk. Employers must also include employee
input in assessing and preventing risks.
That does
not mean employees will have a say in the running of the their
workplace, according to OSHA.
"There is
nothing in here that requires and employer to take the advice of
employees," said Assistant Secretary of Labor Charles Jeffress, who
heads OSHA. "This is not mandating that employees control the
process-this is mandating that employers listen."
An earlier
version of the regulations could have covered home offices, raising the
specter of labor investigators touring residences in search of
violations. But OSHA said the most recent version of the regulations
excludes home offices.
The
regulations definitely do cover companies like UPS, the parcel delivery
giant, which employs 21, 000 people in the greater Chicago area. Many
UPS workers engage in repetitive physical tasks that can cause ergonomic
injuries.
UPS for its
part, says the rules are too broadly written.
The
regulations had been held in limbo for so many years, many believed they
would never be issued.
As recently
as last week, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce said it thought they
wee unlikely to be adopted anytime soon.
After the
rules were announced, the National Association of Manufacturers said it
would sue to overturn them, and dozens of other businesses asked that
they be revised or rescinded.
And on
Monday the rules touched off yet another dispute between the White House
and Republican lawmakers.
Sen.
Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) called the regulations "a monument to
regulatory excess," while Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.) who chairs the
House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the new standards
follow "a pattern of overstepping authority and issuing controversial
new policies."
Both the
Republican-controlled House and Senate opposed OSHA’s plans to issue the
rules before the National Academy of Sciences completed its own
ergonomics study.
Given the
Republican opposition, the White House had offered to allow OSHA to
issue the rules this year but put off implementing them until next June,
allowing the next president the chance to block them.
But GOP
leaders balked, saying that once the rules were issued the new president
might have a hard time rescinding them.
"For them to
issued the rules pretty much blows up everything," said House Republican
Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, an ardent opponent of the ergonomics standards.
"It’s like pulling a string from a bad sweater. It unravels everything."
But Senate
Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota applauded the move,
insisting that the regulations should not now be revisited.
By Robert
Manor
Chicago
Tribune
11/14/00
