Ergonomics repeal in the House of Representatives: On Tuesday, March 6, the
Senate approved Senate Joint Resolution (S J Res 6), the Ergonomics Rule Dissapproval
Resolution, by a vote of 56-44. S J Res 6 now moves to the House of Representatives,
where it will be voted on today. Although the standard does not apply to construction
now, it will ultimately. NRCA has consistently opposed the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration's (OHSA's) ergonomics standard. The standard is hundreds of
pages long and eventually will impose new regulatory burdens on every workplace,
making employers responsible for every ache and pain imaginable. OSHA wrote the
standard absent a consensus within the scientific community as to what causes such
injuries, so its enforcement of the standard can be expected to generate an avalanche
of citations. The standard also creates a new federal workers' compensation program.
If an employee is ergonomically impaired, the employee must be allowed to stay home
for 90 days at 90 percent pay or do light duties at work for 100 percent pay. NRCA
members are urged to call their representatives to ask that they vote S J Res 6,
the Ergonomics Rule Disapproval Resolution.
If you call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and provide the name
of your representative, you will be connected. Please direct any questions to NRCA's
Washington, D.C., office at (800) 338-5765 or e-mail Craig Brightup, NRCA's associate
executive director of government relations, at
cbrightup@nrca.net.