Workplace safety regulations that would cover more than 100 million people at 6 million workplaces will become the law of the land in 2001 unless the new president or the courts see it differently.
Lawsuits have been filed to stop the rules from being implemented Jan. 16. The Bush administration may rescind the rules or request that the rulemaking process begin again if opponents successfully challenge their scientific certainty before the courts.Ergonomics rules prepared by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are intended to make jobs safer and reduce nagging, sometimes crippling, injuries that can arise from lifting objects or going through repetitive motions, OSHA said. Musculoskeletal injuries run up a $50 billion health-care tab each year, and while some industries teach workers how to perform their jobs safely, ergonomic risk factors remain unaddressed in places that employ 60% of general industry workers, according to the agency.
The rules have evolved over the years, but the positions of the two sides have remained the same: Management is against them; labor is for them.
aMont Byrd, director of safety and health for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the rules give injured workers who might otherwise fear losing their jobs an “outlet to come forward, receive treatment and continue being a productive part of the workplace.”
Critics say no direct link has been shown between jobs and repetitive stress injuries and that government intervention is not needed in the private workplace.
United Parcel Service has implemented work-safety programs that have reduced the number of days employees lose due to injuries or illness by double-digit percentages in the last several years, UPS spokesman Tad Segal said.
Ford Motor Company reported major productivity and quality improvements, along with reductions in injuries, as a result of its joint programs with the United Auto Workers, according to testimony the Department of Health and Human Services presented to OSHA.
Estimates of what it will take to implement the rules differ widely. OSHA puts the cost at $4.5 billion annually for all industries, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the total will be closer to $100 billion when re-engineering expenses are factored in, including the cost of automation. American Trucking Associations pegged the cost at $6.5 billion for trucking alone.
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