Labor & Employment Law

OSHA Backtracks on Proposed Workplace Injury Rule

By Mike Hall

It seems simple enough. Employers already keep a record for workplace injuries and illnesses?why not add a column to the report for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)?ergonomic injuries? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would provide the form and employers would simply put a check mark in the right place to identify which injuries are MSDs. But now OSHA is withdrawing the rule from final review to get further input from small businesses.

From 1970 until the Bush administration in 2003 deleted the MSD column on the injury and illness form, employers were required to identify these injuries. But when OSHA proposed to restore the MSD record-keeping rule, the business community went into a tizzy, claiming it was a costly burden and government overreach. That?s not a surprise.

MSDs are the biggest source of workplace injury and illness and Seminario says the proposed rule would help employers, workers and the government to identify the extent of the problems and to take action to prevent them.

OSHA admitted the temporary withdrawal was a reaction to the small business community?s opposition to the proposed rule. And business groups indeed hailed OSHA?s action.

Karen Higgins, RN, co-president of National Nurses United (NNU) called the withdrawal a “disturbing sign that the Obama administration may be putting the economic interests of employers ahead of the safety of nurses and other working people.”

The rule is important to allow workers and hospitals to identify unsafe practices earlier and put in place corrective equipment and procedures, and then analyze whether such corrective interventions had a positive impact on worker safety.

The agency said the withdrawal will be temporary because OSHA planned to ?engage and listen? to small businesses’ concerns about the agency’s proposal. The rule was proposed nearly a year ago, and those concerns were thoroughly expressed during the comment period and in public hearings.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 26, 2011 (boomark / email).