Revised Repetitive-Motion Rules Take Effect This Week
All California employers--in theory, even firms with just one employee--must now comply with the state’s ground-breaking regulation for curbing repetitive-motion injuries in the workplace.
A revised version of the safety standard, expanded to include even the smallest of the state’s nearly 1 million employers, was put into effect this week by Sacramento Superior Court Judge James Ford.
Ford, in a ruling made public Thursday, rejected pleas by the trucking industry that the standard be rewritten, a move that could have postponed the expanded rules indefinitely. A lawyer for the American Trucking Assns., Lynda Mounts, said the group is likely to appeal Ford’s decision and to continue its legal fight to strike down the entire standard.
The standard, which initially took effect in July after years of debate, is the first comprehensive workplace regulation in the nation intended to prevent such widespread repetitive-motion ailments as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis.
Although labor groups say the standard is too lax, they still have welcomed it as a first step in combating what they regard as a widespread hazard among white- and blue-collar workers.
Business groups, on the other hand, have complained that there is too little scientific evidence available on repetitive-motion injuries to justify potentially costly regulations. That argument, however, was undercut this summer by a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health citing persuasive evidence that many of these injuries are work-related.
Last month, Ford signaled that he would strike down an exemption in the standard that excluded all organizations with fewer than 10 employees, or nearly 80% of the state’s employers. He also said he would narrow the grounds under which employers could be exempted because of the costs of compliance.
Not until Thursday, however, was it clear if the revised standard would be put into effect immediately or sent back to regulators for another in a series of redrafts.
Under the standard, employers are required to take remedial measures only after two or more workers performing the same task are injured in a single year. That presumably would apply to a firm or government agency with just one employee if, say, a new employee incurs the same ergonomic injury as one suffered by a worker he or she replaced in the last year.
Still, observers noted, state officials will focus regulatory efforts on the big employers.
Financial penalties are not specified by the regulation, but state officials said the customary Cal-OSHA fines will apply. As a result, fines in most cases will be up to $7,000 per violation. In very rare cases where employers are judged to be “willful violators,” however, fines could reach $70,000.
