Brace yourselves, the ergonomics debate is back again! A little more than 18 months has passed since OSHA created a firestorm of controversy by instituting an ergonomics rule during the waning days of the Clinton administration. President Bush and Congress repealed that ergonomics rule in March 2001 under the previously unused Congressional Review Act. Since then, OSHA has developed a new ergonomics program that relies on voluntary guidelines to reduce ergonomic hazards. Labor advocates have condemned OSHA’s new ergonomics program and its reliance on voluntary guidelines even though the industry guidelines have not yet been released and their effectiveness has not been determined.
Labor groups such as the AFL-CIO have lobbied Congress to pass legislation requiring OSHA to adopt a new ergonomics rule requiring employers to take specific steps to address ergonomic hazards. Their efforts bore fruit on June 19th when the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
