Labor Secretary grilled over ergonomics regulations

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao declined Thursday to set a public deadline for her department to develop a new workplace injuries regulation or say whether there would even be a new regulation, but insisted that the department was working hard on the issue.

Under tough questioning from Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommitte Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Penn., and ranking member Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Chao said, "I don't think a deadline would do any of us any good in reducing ergonomic injuries."

President Bush signed the bill Congress passed last month to overturn the Clinton administration's ergonomics regulation. The regulation would have required businesses to implement prevention programs and compensate workers who experience ergonomic illnesses such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and other repetitive-motion injuries. Business criticized the rule as too prescriptive and costly, but labor groups supported it.

In his opening remarks, Harkin, who had strongly supported the Clinton regulation, said, "With the attitude that seems to be prevalent around this town, we probably couldn't even get a hardhat rule through."

Chao suggested that the previous administration had set an "unrealistic and unreasonable deadline and [the rule] was eviscerated." She indicated she would like the department to take its time so it could avoid such an outcome.

But Specter, who had considered voting to uphold the rule last month before ultimately voting with his Republican colleagues, stressed the importance of deadlines. "There's a deadline on my term of six years. There's a deadline on the President's term of four years. Give us a deadline," he said.

Chao said one of the problems the previous administration had was not reaching a consensus on the issue, and noted that she is already meeting with a number of stakeholders. "A consensus is great if you can get it," Specter said. "But most regulations move without it."

Harkin asked Chao to provide the subcommittee with information on how much of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's budget would be spent on addressing the ergonomics effort, and asked her to provide him with a description of what is specifically wrong with the Clinton rule.

In her testimony, Chao laid out a number of principles on ergonomics and indicated she was considering having future cost estimates reviewed by an independent group, focusing on high-risk jobs, and upholding state jurisdiction.

In her testimony, Chao also praised voluntary efforts of the meatpacking industry. Chao said that although she was not ready to comment on whether there would be a rule or guidance, naming a new OSHA administrator who would work on the issue was "a top priority."