OSHA expects final ergonomics rule by year's end

Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief Charles Jeffress Monday told CongressDaily that OSHA is on target for finalizing its controversial rule designed to protect workers from painful and costly musculoskeletal disorders by the end of the year.

"The proposal represents our best thinking to date on this issue and we anticipate that it will be even better after we receive input from these hearings," he said.

Jeffress kicked off a series of hearings Monday on the proposed ergonomics rule the agency issued last November that would require manufacturing and manual labor employers to provide equipment to ease or prevent employees from developing these disorders on the job. More than 7,000 comments have been received so far.

Federal agencies would be covered under the proposed rule, which would require employers to create programs for manufacturing jobs (such as production jobs at Army arsenals) and manual handling jobs (such as patient handling at Veterans Affairs hospitals). In addition, if an employee not in one of those two categories reports an ergonomic problem, then the employer must solve the problem, the rule says.

OSHA's Office of Federal Agency Programs oversees federal efforts to comply with worker safety laws and regulations.

The business community has criticized the proposal, saying it is too expensive, it interferes with safety practices already in place and it is based on questionable science. Members of Congress also have questioned the timing and need for the rule, which the OSHA estimates will save the U.S. economy $9 billion a year and prevent the injury of 300,000 workers.

No member of Congress has filed formal comments, Jeffress said.

Congress could again try to block the rule, but Jeffress noted, "They didn't do it last year." The comment period on the ergonomics proposal closed March 2. Hearings are to conclude by May 12 and all briefs are expected to be in by the end of August, giving the agency plenty of time to analyze the comments and make adjustments to the rule before the end of the year, Jeffress said.