Ergonomics rule killed

March 7, 2001: 8:17 p.m. ET

House joins Senate in repealing regulations addressing workplace injuries

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Following the lead of the U.S. Senate, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives late Wednesday voted to kill a set of regulations, passed in waning days of the Clinton Administration, aimed at preventing repetitive stress injuries sustained in the workplace.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the measure knocking the recently-established ergonomics regulations off the books.

Voting mostly along party lines, the House voted to repeal the regulations by a vote of 223 to 206.

Fierce debate
The impending repeal set off a fiery, fiercely partisan debate on Capitol Hill earlier this week, pitting the interest of organized labor against that of the 250 business groups that joined forces to dismantle the ergonomics regulations.



	Government needs to act in the name of their safety.



	Rep. Richard Gephardt House Minority Leader D-Mo.

Democrats, traditional allies of organized labor, called the regulations a long-overdue step that was needed to protect the hundreds of thousands of mostly blue collar workers who sustain such injuries every year. Dismantling such regulations, they said, amounted to an all-out assault on the American work force.

"Government needs to act in the name of their safety," said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, speaking of the large number of American workers who suffer repetitive stress injuries in the workplace every year.

Republicans decried the regulations as far too complex to comply with and so costly they would force some businesses, mostly small businesses, to close their doors. Republicans asserted the ergonomics rules, issued in the waning weeks of the Clinton administration, were created as a political favor to organized labor.

"Clinton did this as a gift to organized labor," U.S. Senator Don Nickles (R-Okla.) said Tuesday. Nickles, who spearheaded the effort in the Senate, calling the regulations "intrusive, expensive and job-killing."

The regulations were announced in mid-November, during the final weeks of Clinton's presidency. They went into effect for most businesses in mid-January although some were given until October to comply.

The White House, which called the regulations vague and cumbersome on Tuesday, has signaled that President George W. Bush would sign a repeal into law.

What the rule requires
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 1.8 million ergonomic injuries, such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and back strain, were reported last year. A third of those injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, result in time away from the job.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's ergonomics regulations would have required employers to take several measures to prevent repetitive stress injuries including educating workers about such problems. It also would require them to redesign jobs if they cause an injury that results in days away from work or medical treatment beyond first aid.

The rule requires employers pay 90 percent of an injured employees wages if that person can no longer work after sustaining an injury from lifting, pushing, pulling or repeating a motion on the job. Employees who are injured but are able to take on a restricted job are guaranteed 100 percent of their wages under the rule.

Workers who perform certain tasks over and over, such as those who work on computer keyboards, at meat-cutting plants and in health-care facilities where they lift or turn patients or medical equipment, can be prone to these injuries, according to the National Academy of Sciences. In a study released in January, the academy said these injuries "can be attributed to particular jobs and working conditions -- including heavy lifting, repetitive and forceful motions and stressful work environments."

Still areas of debate
Much debate has ensued, however, on how many workers actually suffer from musculoskeletal disorders and at least as much debate about how much it would actually cost businesses to comply with the regulations established by the Clinton administration.

Several academic studies claim there is widespread underreporting of such injuries. OSHA assumes the true injury rate is at least twice the figure reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

OSHA estimated the annual cost of compliance to be around $4.5 billion. Several studies have disputed that figure including Small Business Administration study that estimated the annual cost would be at least 2.5 times higher, and possibly 15 times higher, than OSHA's projections.

The National Association of Manufacturers, one of the business groups that has been fighting the regulations, has estimated the actual cost would be approximately $18 billion annually. The Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, concluded that businesses would spend approximately $129.5 billion during the first year the proposed regulations go into effect. After 10 years, EPF estimates the annual cost will continue to be in excess of $71 billion.

EPF also firmly backed the claim of small business owners that the cost of the additional regulations will damage them more than it will big business. EPF concluded small businesses would pay $12,511 per year to meet government ergonomic requirements. The added cost, according to EPF, would push those small businesses operating on slim profit margins into insolvency.