Risk Managers, Insurers Get A Break On Ergonomics
That collective sigh of relief you might have heard after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration unveiled its kinder, gentler ergonomics program came from two sources.
One was the insurance industry, which is thrilled that there is no longer any talk of monkeying around with the workers' compensation system as the exclusive remedy for employees injured on the job. The other was risk managers, who are thrilled that they won't have to meet cookie-cutter loss control standards handed down from Washington, with a hammer hanging over their heads to ensure compliance.
OSHA's four-part plan emphasizes voluntary standards and consulting support, rather than the regulatory threats and compensation mandates imposed by the agency in the 11th hour of the Clinton Administration.
The Clinton rules, which would have imposed higher benefits for those with muscular skeletal disorders, trumping state workers' comp mandates, were tossed last year by the Republican-controlled Congress. OSHA was sent back to the drawing board to come up with a program more palatable to the business community.
Of course, if you listened carefully above the din of the celebration, you might have detected some booing and hissing from labor advocates and leading Democrats such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, who charged that OSHA's new employer-friendly approach "rejects substantive protections for America's workers in favor of small, symbolic gestures."
Their concerns should not be ignored, especially since details on exactly how OSHA's program will be implemented are sketchy, meaning the jury is still out on its ultimate effectiveness. But no matter how this plays out, insurers and risk managers are far better off than they would have been under the onerous Clinton rules.
As laid out by John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor, OSHA's plan would involve:
Voluntary, industry and task-specific best practices guidelines.
A "strong and effective," but not-yet-developed enforcement strategy, with special emphasis placed on industries with ergonomic problems.
Outreach and assistance, with OSHA offering advice and training via its Web sites and 12 education centers.
Research, targeted at closing the "many gaps remaining addressing ergonomic hazards." OSHA will establish a national advisory committee to "advise OSHA of these gaps."
The Clinton guidelines were clearly overkill, raising costs and havoc unnecessarily. But if the Bush team wants to avoid a political fiasco of their own, they have to make sure that OSHA's ergonomics program actually cuts down on injuries. If it fails, Democrats will bash the President in the 2004 election campaign for going soft on his big business cronies at the expense of worker safety.
Risk managers and insurers, who already have plenty of incentives to limit MSD injuries–such as improved productivity, reduced claims and lower premiums–should take advantage of OSHA's helping hand and make sure they keep their own houses in order. No matter who is President or which party controls Congress, they shouldn't need the government to tell them the value of sound ergonomic loss control.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, April 22, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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