The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) encourages employers to implement and conduct ongoing assessments of ergonomics programs as part of a comprehensive risk control program in each organization. Evidence suggests that such programs can reduce employee workplace injuries and related employer costs.

RIMS opposes regulations recently proposed by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), that would mandate an Ergonomics Program Standard. RIMS believes the proposed mandates are unnecessary, would undermine the well established and successful state workers’ compensation system, and could be counter-productive relative to the effective allocation of resources to the outcomes of an organization’s risk control program. Further, RIMS believes the regulations exceed OSHA’s authority and would lead to an explosion in litigation.

RIMS supports a comprehensive education effort to support and enhance the significant trend in voluntary employer ergonomics programs. RIMS believes a targeted, analysis-based loss control approach is the most effective and efficient approach to reducing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), benefiting both employees and employers.

RIMS’ position is based on the following:

• Significant incentives exist for employers to voluntarily implement ergonomics programs and a substantial number of employees are already protected by such programs. OSHA estimates that 50% of employees are protected by their employers’ ergonomics programs and cites numerous "success stories" of employers that have implemented such programs, resulting in significant economic benefits. Where MSD injuries represent a significant loss trend or potential loss area, employers are naturally anxious to implement programs to protect employees from potential injury and control these costs. A continued, comprehensive education effort by OSHA, in cooperation with the business community, would serve as a catalyst for voluntary implementation of ergonomics programs designed to meet each employer’s specific needs.

• Existing regulations provide protection for workers from exposure to MSDs and provide employers with needed flexibility to implement the most appropriate protection for their employees. Under the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Heath Act employers can be and are cited for failure to implement adequate ergonomics standards. Creating an entirely new regulatory regime is an unnecessary and costly burden for public and private sector employers.

• RIMS believes the proposed regulations would exceed OSHA’s authority and are in direct conflict with restrictions established under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, reading in part that, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supercede or in any manner affect any workmen’s compensation law or to enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner the common law or statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of employers and employees under any law with respect to injuries, diseases, or death of employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment."

• State workers’ compensation laws, would be undermined by OSHA’s proposed regulations. Over the years, states have developed workers’ compensation systems that best serve and reflect the needs of their workers and business community. The proposed OSHA regulations would distinguish a certain type of workplace injury, MSDs, and single such injuries out for special federal regulatory treatment without a rational basis for doing so. By providing a federally mandated system of compensation in excess of state workers’ compensation laws, RIMS fears the workers’ compensation system will be undermined.

• The proposed regulations provide for compensation to employees suffering from MSDs far in excess of that provided under state workers’ compensation laws. Business would incur significant additional costs as a result. OSHA estimates that up to one-third of the $60 billion spent annually on workers’ compensation claims is attributable to MSDs. Because the proposed regulation requires compensation in excess of that paid under state workers’ compensation laws, employers would be forced to pay a premium above the estimated $20 billion in workers’ compensation costs under the proposed regulations. As noted above, RIMS sees no rational basis for distinguishing MSDs from other workplace injuries. RIMS fears the additional compensation would serve as an incentive for employees to report non-employment related or ordinary workplace injuries as MSDs. Further, the compensation system would serve as a disincentive to returning to work.

• Employers would unnecessarily incur additional expenses not only as a result of the increased compensation, but also by being compelled to make unnecessary changes to the work environment at significant costs. Under the proposed regulations, a single reported MSD injury would precipitate the additional costs of compensation, program implementation and related changes to the work environment. RIMS is concerned that already limited loss control resources will be misallocated to make such changes instead of implementing higher priority safety programs based on organization-wide risk control analysis and loss trending data. As a result, the regulations could have the opposite effect of what is intended.

• The proposed regulations would result in a flood of litigation that would inundate an already overtaxed federal court system. Unlike state workers’ compensation laws, OSHA’s proposed regulations do not establish a system for dispute resolution. As a result, employers and employees will be forced to seek federal judicial intervention to resolve disputes arising out of alleged workplace injuries. The system will be further taxed by litigation between employers and OSHA over implementation of the standards.

RIMS is committed to working with OSHA – as evidenced by RIMS’ Partnering Charter with OSHA, signed in 1998 – to educate employers to risk to employees’ safety and health in the workplace. With obvious benefits resulting from making the workplace safer, RIMS believes a comprehensive education program will result in a significant increase in the number of employees covered by effective ergonomics programs without resorting to expensive and excessive federal regulation.

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The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management, a professional discipline that protects physical, financial and human resources. Founded in 1950, RIMS is the world’s largest association for risk management, representing over 4,000 industrial, service, non-profit, charitable, and governmental entities. The Society serves more than 7,500 individuals representing its member companies/organizations in 90 chapters across the United States and Canada.