OSHA reveals ergonomic proposal
By Industrial Distribution Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 1/1/2000
It's still too early to tell how OSHA's long awaited ergonomic proposal will affect distribution, but it could have both adverse and positive ramifications.In late November, OSHA announced its ergonomics program standard for general industry. OSHA claims the rule will prevent 300,000 injuries and $9 billion a year in worker's compensation and other direct costs to employers. The standard would apply to employers in general industry whose employees work in manufacturing jobs, in manual handling jobs, or in jobs where a musculoskeletal disorder has been reported. OSHA estimates the cost of the proposed rule at $4.2 billion a year.
A 60-day comment period is due to expire on Feb. 1. However, at press time industry advocates were seeking to expand the deadline for commenting on the proposal by two months. One of the biggest controversies revolves around the edict that injured workers be given 90 percent of their pay and full benefits for six months following an injury.
Labor groups have supported the proposal, while business groups, including the National Assn. of Wholesaler Distributors, have blasted it. However, it's tough to tell where safety distributors stand on the issue. Although many distributors would most likely be forced to comply with some of the regulations, especially those governing warehouse workers, they would most likely benefit from them as well.
For example, the ruling calls for employers to assign somebody to be responsible for ergonomics, and also for setting up a program for workers to report signs and symptoms of injuries. In today's age of outsourcing, savvy distributors could contract with manufacturers to perform this task for them.
"This would be another area where our members could assist their customers in helping them protect their workers," said Steve King, executive vice president of the Safety Equipment Distributors Assn. "Safety equipment distributors have to look at anything that OSHA puts out in two ways; what will the ruling require of them [in terms of compliance], and on the other hand, there are opportunities in any OSHA regulation that deals with issues that might have a PPE remedy. This could provide an opportunity for a safety distributor to have increased sales. This may be one issue where we find ourselves at odds with the NAW and others who are advocating a hands-off approach."
OSHA's 2000 budget upped by eight percent
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been granted a $27.6 million budget increase for the fiscal year 2000. OSHA's final budget of $382 million includes:
- $97 million for compliance assistance (a 12 percent increase);
- $141 million for enforcement (five percent increase);
- $23 million for statistical programs, which represents a 51 percent increase over 1999's budget.
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