Senators Push For New Ergonomics Rules

Five senators want Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to begin a new rulemaking on workplace ergonomics.

The National Private Truck Council reports that in a recent letter to Chao, Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN) complained that the Labor Department has not moved forward with a "comprehensive approach" to ergonomics as promised.
In the last days of the Clinton Administration, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration published a final rule on ergonomics, but Congress repealed that rule in March 2001.
Following the repeal, OSHA conducted a series of outreach sessions to get public input on how the agency should proceed. At their conclusion, Chao said she would announce her intentions in September. That announcement was never made, and ergonomics does not appear on the Department's recently released regulatory agenda for 2002, reports the NPTC.
Some Members of Congress and the labor unions can be expected to continue the pressure on Chao throughout 2002.

For more on the controversy over ergonomics regulations, see "Reinventing the Ergonomics Rule," 4/19/2001.