GOP Moves to Nullify Ergonomics Regulations

Accelerating their bid to wipe Clinton administration regulations off the books, Republicans are taking aim at a major target: new rules forcing employers to provide ergonomics programs that Democrats and labor unions say bolster workplace safety.

If the GOP effort is successful, union officials say, it would mark the first time since the federal government created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1970 that Congress has nullified an existing job safety regulation.

The ergonomics rules, which took effect during President Clinton’s last week in office, generally require job conditions and work stations to be tailored to help workers avoid ailments afflicting the muscles, nerves, joints, cartilage, blood vessels or spinal discs.

Potentially affecting millions of workers, the rules represent the first attempt to establish broad federal standards for making workplaces ergonomically sensitive. But business groups complain the regulations impose needless, costly burdens on employers already seeking to improve workplace safety.

Debate about the regulatory rollback will start next week in the Senate, GOP congressional aides said Friday, with a vote possible by Wednesday. The outcome is uncertain, but Republican lawmakers express confidence they will prevail, in part because they expect to have the backing of President Bush.

During the 2000 campaign, Bush said he believed the federal government should focus on providing information about ergonomics programs but resist issuing mandates. Since taking office, however, he has steered clear of a direct stand on the rules embraced by Clinton.

By assuming the lead in the push to negate the regulations, congressional Republicans could spare Bush the awkward political task of seeking to undo the rules on his own.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday only that the ergonomics rules are under review. “If there is something to announce, we’ll let you know.”

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who oversees OSHA, has not taken a public position.

Business groups, which for the most part strongly backed Bush in the 2000 campaign, have kicked off a high-pitched lobbying campaign to kill the ergonomics rules.

Republicans on Capitol Hill say blocking the regulations will save businesses from potentially bewildering and costly efforts to meet imprecise standards. “If ever there was an instance that called for Congress to step in and send an administrative agency rule back to the drawing board, this is it,” said Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming.

But organized labor is equally intent on saving the regulations, contending they would prevent hundreds of thousands of repetitive-motion injuries each year.

“I can’t think of an issue that will be more important for working families in this Congress,” Bill Samuel, director of legislative affairs for the AFL-CIO, said Friday at a news conference. “This vote will set the tone, not only for this Congress but for this administration, coming as early as it does.”

All sides acknowledge the ergonomics rules are a landmark. Years in the making, they were issued in November and took effect Jan. 16--just four days before Clinton left office.

The rules require employers in most industries to take certain steps to prevent musculoskeletal disorders, which are crippling conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis or chronic back injuries that force an estimated 600,000 workers off the job each year.

The injuries, caused by stressful, awkward postures and repetitive motions, can strike white-collar and blue-collar workers, from those who type all day at computers to those who lift boxes in trucks or warehouses.

At a minimum, affected employers are required to notify workers by Oct. 15 about the risks of such injuries and establish procedures for reporting them. Those who receive valid complaints of work-related injuries--not injuries that occur off the job--are required to take further steps to prevent them. Some fixes, labor officials say, could be as easy as adjusting the height of a platform or desk. Others could be much more expensive.

In all, business groups estimate that 6 million employers could be affected. Construction, maritime, agricultural, railroad and mining employers and certain nonfederal public agencies are not covered.

OSHA estimates that the rules would cost employers $4.5 billion a year to implement but would generate $9.1 billion in savings in reduced workers compensation and medical costs. Businesses contend that costs would be far higher.

California adopted ergonomics rules for businesses in 1997, but the federal standards take precedence over the state regulations, which in some instances are weaker. For instance, the state regulations are not triggered until at least two employees doing identical work report injuries within a year of each other, while the federal rules require employers to take action after one incident.

Clinton’s decision to put the federal rules into effect prompted an uprising by small and large employers across the country, said Randel Johnson, a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Business leaders, he said, are flooding the Capitol with complaints.

“These senators would not take this vote unless they were hearing from home that this regulation needs to be overturned,” Johnson said.

In pushing the matter to a vote, Republicans are relying on a 1996 law that allows Congress to strike down major regulations issued by federal agencies.

Democrats warn that, if successful, the move to overturn the ergonomics regulations could prevent OSHA from adopting any similar standards in the future. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said it could be “the death knell for protections from ergonomic injuries”--a charge Republicans deny.

Foes of the regulations start from a position of strength on Capitol Hill. In June, when Republicans held a 55-45 majority in the Senate, the chamber voted 57-41 to block implementation of the rules at a time when they were still being drafted.

The House, also GOP-controlled, approved a spending bill with a similar provision. But those efforts were stymied by Clinton in year-end budget negotiations.

Although the Senate now is evenly divided between the two parties, Johnson of the U.S. Chamber predicted that, as of now, a resolution to kill the regulations will pass with 53 to 55 votes.

Jim Manley, a Kennedy spokesman, acknowledged that supporters of the ergonomics rules face “an uphill battle” in thwarting the move to overturn them. But he said enough senators remain on the fence to keep the final tally in doubt.

*

Times staff writers Jennifer Dorroh in Washington and Nancy Cleeland in Los Angeles contributed to this story.