Fighting For
An Ergonomics Standard
UE News, December 2000
By David Kotelchuck
UPDATE: The
new OSHA ergonomics standard took effect on January 16, 2001. However,
business has succeeded in having the standard killed by Congress; President
Bush put the final nail in the coffin by signing the repeal under the never-before
used (and very anti-democratic) Congressional Review Act on March 20, 2001 (for
details see: UE News - Bush, Congress to Injured
Workers: Suffer!). On this page, then are some of the protections
workers would have had if not for greed of corporate America.
Well, folks, the fat’s on the fire when it comes to the new OSHA
Ergonomics Standard. As you
remember from the last Health & Safety column in the UE NEWS,
the Clinton Administration announced a new Ergonomics Standard in November, and the Republicans in
Congress have so far held up the entire $350 billion human services part of
the U.S. federal budget unless Clinton backs off. So far Clinton hasn’t, and
the warring parties (yes, they’re warring politically) are getting ready for
their next moves to protect/destroy this new standard. Whether the standard
remains on the books will eventually depend on us in the union movement and
our friends and allies.
Let’s look critically at the final version of the new standard,
especially at the last-minute changes — good and bad — and what may happen
to OSHA and the standard as soon as Congress reconvenes. First, some of the
changes in the standard:
-
In the final version of the Ergonomics Standard, all of general industry
is covered, no industry is singled out for special treatment (for example, the
meatpacking industry was covered by special rules in the original draft
version of the standard.)
-
How does an industry or company or plant get covered under the new
standard? Some employee has to suffer a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), such
as a back injury or a case of carpal tunnel syndrome, and report it. If the
injury arises from a job-related activity which is specified in the standard,
then the employer must initiate an ergonomics program in that workplace.
That means the burden of triggering the program falls on the
shoulders of the MSD victims. This is an invitation to company pressure
and threats against workers who are injured on the job. In union shops,
injured workers’ rights can be protected through our contracts. In
unorganized shops, this protection just isn’t there.
What job-related activities cause MSDs? Here the new standard is quite
specific and very good — better, even, than the standard originally
proposed:
|
RISK FACTOR
|
HAZARDOUS JOB ACTIVITY
|
|
|
Awkward Posture
|
- Repeatedly raising your hands above your head or your
elbows above your shoulders for more than 2 hours per day
- Kneeling or squatting for more than 2 hours per day
|
|
|
Contact Stress |
- Using your hand or knee as a hammer more than 10
times per hour for more than two hours each day
|
|
|
Vibration |
- Using tools with high vibration levels (such as
jackhammers or chipping hammers) for more than 30 minutes total each day
|
|
|
Repetition |
- Repeating the same few motions every few seconds for
more than two consecutive hours in a workday
- Using a keyboard and/or mouse in a steady manner for more than 4
hours total in a workday
|
|
|
Force |
- Lifting more than 75 pounds load at any time during the
workday
- Lifting 55 pounds load more than 10 times per day
- Lifting more than 25 pounds from below the knees, above the
shoulders or at arm’s length more than 25 times per day
|
Before this standard, OSHA had no limits on how much weight a
worker could lift per day. Now if workers are asked to lift 75 pounds or more
anytime, and someone suffers a back injury, then the employer must start an
ergonomics program. (This means, of course, that one person will have to
suffer a back injury first before anything happens — this is what is wrong
with the standard — but at least we don’t have to go on under the same
working conditions and have others get injured.) Also, previously an office
worker could be assigned to work 8 hours a day using a keyboard and mouse, and
it would be legal. Under this standard, four hours is the maximum time one can
be assigned this work, again after someone first develops a case of carpal
tunnel syndrome. These standards for how much repetitive and forceful work is
too much can serve as good guidelines for work practices in UE shops, whatever
the fate of the new standard.
SHARPENING THEIR KNIVES
Congressional Republicans, with support from the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce and other industry organizations, are preparing to attack and kill
the new standard when Congress reconvenes. President-elect Bush will almost
certainly support efforts to kill the standard. He and Congressional
Republicans may try one of several moves:
-
Again try to prohibit enforcement of the standard by
attaching a one-year amendment to the U.S. Budget forbidding OSHA from
enforcing it.
-
Cut the budget for OSHA so that it doesn’t have enough
money to carry out any enforcement activities.
-
Pass a bill in both Houses of Congress, which must then be
signed by the President, repealing the OSHA Ergonomics Standard. This has
never been done before in OSHA’s 30-year history, but this could be a
first.
Whatever Congress tries to do to stop this standard will
deprive workers of their rights to a safe and healthy job. And whatever the
faults of this particular standard — and they are many — if Congress gets
away with repealing the standard or monkeying with OSHA’s budget to stop a
standard, this will only whet the appetite of the tiger. Anti-union
Congresspeople will try this route again to attack workers and try to deprive
workers of their rights. We need to work with others in the labor movement to
fight the attacks against us. It’s time to mobilize and lobby our
Congressional Representatives and Senators now, first to pass this year’s
human services budget with no anti-OSHA amendments, and then to fight any
attacks on the Ergonomics Standard during the next session of Congress (in
2001).
The union movement has spent 10 years fighting for a new
Ergonomics Standard, and now we’ve got one. Let’s give it a chance to
work.
