Ergonomics Standard (2000)
The ergonomics standard issued by OSHA in 2000 would have required hazard information and reporting, training, and worker participation programs, among other elements. It would have covered more than 6 million employers and 102 million workers. OSHA estimated the standard would have prevented at least 4.6 million ergonomics-related injuries (musculoskeletal injuries are responsible for one-third of reported work-related injuries and illnesses). The standard was repealed in 2001 by George W. Bush and the Republican Congress.
Cry Wolf Quotes
[The ergonomics standard is] the most expensive, intrusive regulations ever promulgated, certainly by the Department of Labor and maybe by any department in history.
This fight's not over… The best-intentioned employer isn't going to be able to figure out [the standards], even if he has hundreds of lawyers. It's like getting your arms around a bowl of Jell-O.
This regulation, whenever it is issued and takes effect, will be one of the most far-reaching workplace rules ever issued by any federal agency. Ultimately it will affect every business in the country.
If implemented, they would require employers to establish burdensome and costly new systems intended to track, prevent and provide compensation for an extremely broad class of injuries whose cause is subject to considerable dispute.
