OSHA's finalized ergonomics standards

dgoeb

We have recently begun work on procedures to bring us into compliance with OSHA's finalized ergonomics standards, which go into effect October 14, 2001. Are these standards one of the things in which the Bush administration has rescinded in recent weeks?

System

Yes, the ergonomic requirements are dead. On March 20, 2001 President Bush signed into law a bill that overturned the OSHA ergonomics regulation. However, you would be wise to continue your plans to implement an ergonomic injury prevention program, for two reasons. First, your company can still be cited by OSHA for a violation of the OSH Act's "general duty clause" which requires employers to keep their workplaces free of known hazards. Second, ergonomics will probably not go away quietly. I would expect new ergonomics regulations to appear again, although it is hard to tell how soon. The quashed regulations allowed employers to "grandfather" in their existing policies, and any new regulations would probably have a similar feature. Which means that the program you implement now, may be the program you get to keep (for a while, at least) rather than having to implement more stringent OSHA standards later.

Good luck!
Anne Williams,
Author of the forthcoming HR Executive Special Report: The H in OSHA Stands for Health

System

Here are sources of information on HRhero.com:

On the National News page, click "Ergonomics standards take fast track to oblivion": [url]http://www.hrhero.com/national/nationalnews.shtml[/url]

Law Center members, log into the members area and search the Newsletter Archive using the search term "ergonomics" for these articles:
"Congress kills new ergonomics rules" and "Ergonomics derailed"
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/[/url]

Employment Law Letter subscribers can find "Ergonomics regulations ride fast track to oblivion" or a similar article on the demise of the ergonomics regs in your March or April newsletter issue.