Industrial Launderer OSHA Ergo Standard

Late last year, OSHA issued a far-reaching set of regulations designed to protect workers from injuries caused by repetitive motions. The new rules cover more than 100 million workers nationwide at more than six million workplaces. OSHA estimates that the new rules will prevent 460,000 injuries a year and eventually result in savings to business of $9 billion annually.

Many industries, however, disagree strongly with these estimates. While OSHA claims compliance will cost American companies roughly $4.5 billion to redesign workstations and production facilities, some business groups estimate that number could go as high as $120 billion. More importantly, many organizations believe the new rules are unnecessary, as their companies already look at these issues carefully. Most industries, including Industrial Launderers, are already proactively and aggressively addressing repetitive motion disorders and back injuries.

Ergonomics is defined as “a study of workplace design: the study of how a workplace and the equipment used there can best be designed for comfort, safety, efficiency, and productivity” according to Encarta World Dictionary. It is also sometimes called biotechnology, human engineering or human factors engineering. Critics believe that it is a science in its infancy – that measurable standards for a healthy worker or an injured worker are not yet universally defined and that these definitions, critical to the development of this science, are years away.

The OSHA ergonomic standard has been under discussion for nearly ten years. Elizabeth Dole, as Secretary of Labor for the first Bush administration, originally announced plans to develop ergonomics standards. The rules were initially drafted in 1995 and riders were added in 1995, 1996 and 1998, which blocked it from going forward. Charles Jeffress, OSHA Director for the Clinton administration, made its passage a priority for 2000; unclear as to its future with the next administration.

Political analysts initially predicted that if not adopted in 2000, a Gore administration would be receptive to implementation while a Bush administration, with stronger ties to big business, would be more hesitant. However, those predictions did not take into account the origins of the standard in the first Bush administration and the increasingly likelihood that the new Bush administration would be so similar in design to the first Bush team.

Repetitive motion disorders, back injuries and knee injuries became a strong focus of safety programs throughout the industrial laundry industry through the 1990s. Introduction of state of the art technology has greatly reduced risks for employee injury throughout production plants around the country. Repetitive tasks have been minimized; work areas redesigned for better worker positioning and equipment updated to make it easier and safer for employee operators.

Comprehensive preplacement physical examination programs have allowed employers to make sure that employees are physically able to perform the essential job functions for the positions in which they are placed. Early concerns that the Americans with Disabilities Act would limit the role of the preplacement physical examination were unfounded. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act specifically requires that an employee only be placed in a position that he or she is physically qualified for.

According to Charles Bell, Fleet Services and Safety Manager for G&K Services, modifications to step vans over the last decade have significantly reduce the RSR’s risk for injury. Changes include lower step levels (or additional lower steps), nonslip surfaces, hand rails, garment rails and garment bins. These additions help avoid unnecessary lifting and help RSRs better manage their loads.

Other overall vehicle safety improvements play a large role in avoiding vehicular accidents. Whenever a vehicular accident happens, the driver is more likely to engage in an unsafe act in the few minutes following the accident that he might otherwise avoid (like lifting heavy carts without assistance or transferring a load to another truck without use of a liftgate). Vehicle improvements which help avoid accidents include larger windshields for better visibility, back up sensors, cameras for video display while backing up, improved ventilation systems that separately vent the cargo area and the passenger compartments and fish eye mirrors. Backing accidents are the single most common type of accident for stepvans – and won’t be addressed by any ergonomics standard.

The bottom line for the Industrial Laundry industry is that we won’t know the bottom line for some time. Will the Bush administration slow implementation? Will OSHA budget monies for enforcement dollars (if not, most employers will disregard compliance concerns)? Will proactive safety-oriented industries continue with business as usual? Or will big business predictions for billions of dollars in compliance costs come true complete with the birth of a new industry unto itself – Ergo Compliance.

Sidebar:

The Bottom Line:

• Preplacement Physical Exams help ensure that your workers will be able to perform their jobs, and warn about potential injuries.
• Keep on top of your plant’s safety programsmake sure you are up to date on employee work area design and equipment. OSHA has developed information sheets that employers can distribute and post in the workplace. See http://www.oshaslc.gov/ergonomicsstandard/ informationkit/standardfactsheet. for information sheets. While visiting that website, you can also obtain a copy of the “Basic Screening Tool.”
• Sit tight – wait until there is formal implementation of these new ergonomic standards from the Bush administration. The OSHA budget may not be backed up by the monies necessary for enforcement.

Will proactive safety-oriented industries continue with business as usual? Or will the big business predictions for billions of dollars in compliance costs come true complete with the birth of a new industry unto itself – Ergo Compliance? I welcome your comments. Direct any correspondence to rstone@corporatewellness.com.

Copyright 2000 R Stone Corporate Wellness, Inc.