Groups Seek More Time to Review Proposed Ergonomics Rules

Fired up by their recent success in getting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to withdraw a controversial directive on telecommuting, business groups and Capitol Hill Republicans are now pressuring OSHA for more time to comment on the agency’s latest proposed ergonomics rules.

In November, OSHA proposed far-reaching regulations to protect an estimated 27 million American workers from repetitive stress injuries. The agency then gave the public until Feb. 1 to comment on the suggested standards before it moves forward to finalize them.

In a letter Thursday to Assistant Secretary of Labor Charles Jeffress, more than 50 legislators called the comment period “unconscionably short,” “disrespectful” and “a slap in the face” to small-business owners who have been preoccupied with the holidays and other year-end activities.

Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate’s Small Business Committee, was among the signers, along with other high-profile Republicans such as Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

The legislators want Jeffress to extend the comment period to 30 days after the National Academy of Sciences completes its study on the relationship between musculoskeletal disorders and job activities. That study is projected to be finished in early 2001.

Groups including the National Federation of Independent Business also have lobbied OSHA, which has received more than 800 letters from politicians, small-business owners and business activists asking the agency to extend the comment period. So far, OSHA has shown little willingness to do so. Last month, Jeffress said publicly that he has no plans to extend the deadline. That was before Bond and company began their letter-writing campaign. Now agency officials are staying mum on their intentions.

“We’re in the process of responding to members of Congress,” OSHA spokeswoman Bonnie Friedman said. “That’s all I can say at this point.”

The proposed standards essentially would require employers with manufacturing and manual lifting jobs to implement a formal ergonomics program in their workplaces. In addition, employers in all industries in which workers sustain musculoskeletal injuries could be required to analyze and fix workstations, provide employees with ergonomics training and offer certain minimum pay benefits, among other things.

The standards represent a watered-down version of more stringent rules suggested by OSHA last February. But business leaders remain hostile to the weaker standards, which they say would cost American businesses far more than the $4.2-billion annual tab estimated by the federal government.

OSHA has been feeling a lot of heat from business groups and Republican legislators lately.

Last week, pro-business forces raised such a ruckus over an OSHA advisory that held companies responsible for the safety of their employees’ home offices that the Labor Department quickly rescinded the directive after it became public.