Fighting Repetitive Injury
The Labor Department this week proposed new regulations to protect an estimated 27 million U.S. workers from repetitive stress injuries. Yet these rules, which have been under discussion for years, face fierce and almost unanimous opposition from business groups and probable death in Congress.
The demise of the proposed changes would be unfortunate because they make sense for employers as well as employees. The booming economy and rising productivity have set a faster pace in many offices and on factory floors. Along with these developments has come a heightened awareness of repetitive stress injuries, what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration calls musculoskeletal disorders. Some 300,000 workers each year suffer lasting damage from carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic back pain, tendinitis and other crippling disorders that are in many instances preventable. These injuries account for more than a third of all serious occupational injuries and illnesses; they generate $9 billion annually in workers’ compensation claims and other costs. They also cost employers dearly in terms of work time lost, job turnover and retraining.
To address the problem, OSHA would require employers in industries and offices where repetitive stress injuries have occurred--and that’s many workplaces--to create a prevention program. These rules would in some cases supersede similar rules adopted in California in 1998.
In a welcome departure from OSHA’s usual rigid, proscriptive rule-making, the proposed ergonomic rules would give employers much flexibility by focusing on the elements the agency wants to see in such plans while letting employers design programs that meet the specific needs of their companies. For instance, employees must have a way to report workplace hazards that could cause musculoskeletal injuries. Employers must analyze their jobs to identify factors that might cause or aggravate these injuries and eliminate or mitigate those hazards, often by redesigning work stations, modifying tools or equipment or changing the pace of work. They must also provide employees with regular training to reduce the chance of injury and treat job-related injuries at no cost to the employee.
OSHA is also proposing to grant exemptions for some small businesses, generally those with 10 or fewer employees, and is offering all employers a number of inexpensive, off-the-shelf solutions to ergonomic hazards.
Business groups that have long fought such nationwide standards, contending they would impose intolerably high costs, would do well to study the experience of companies that have taken steps on their own to reduce repetitive stress injuries. The drop in workers’ compensation and medical care costs that followed the creation of voluntary ergonomic programs, as much as 80% in some cases according to OSHA, has convinced executives at a range of manufacturing and white-collar firms--including apparel, textile and poultry processing companies and a large furniture manufacturing firm--that these programs pay for themselves many times over.
Despite the evidence, many in Congress are likely to try to block the new rules from taking effect when the public comment period ends early next year. Even if the changes are thwarted, nothing prevents more businesses from acting on their own.
