“Targeted guidelines” and “tough enforcement” are two key elements of a comprehensive voluntary plan from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “to dramatically reduce ergonomic injuries,” according to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. “This plan is a major improvement over the rejected old rule because it will prevent ergonomics injuries before they occur and reach a much larger number of at-risk workers.”
Early last year Congress repealed a set of ergonomics rules that were put into effect in the final weeks of the Clinton Administration. Those rules drew strong criticism from business interests, including the National Air Transportation Association. NATA and other trade groups had fought the rule from the start on the basis that its requirements would place a severe financial and administrative burden on small businesses, such as aircraft repair stations, and the cost of compliance would be far more than its safety benefits were worth.
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