A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL-- 11/24/99
OSHA's push for better health

A reasonable program for coping with on-the-job nontraumatic injuries has been advanced by the US Department of Labor. It deserves support. Persistent hostility and interference by diehard opponents in Congress and the business community do no service to anyone.

Many employers have already undertaken programs to reduce nontraumatic injuries, which every year cause about 600,000 employees to miss work and a million more to suffer in pain. The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has assembled a flexible program to assure that more employers take modest measures to reduce the risk of strains, carpal tunnel syndrome, and musculoskeletal disorders. It proposes to assist employers in identifying problems and developing solutions.

Opponents have challenged OSHA's claim that the total cost of such a program for about 27 million employees would be a bit more than $4 billion, or $150 a person. They have called for completion of a scientific study of the issue, although the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health performed a thorough review two years ago and the National Academy of Sciences did another last year. No more study is needed.

Many of the remedies for nontraumatic injuries involve nothing more complicated than rotating workers so they do not spend all their time repeating the same motion over and over or using proper equipment for heavy physical tasks.

Such remedies make economic sense for employers because they can reduce worker compensation costs, which total about $20 billion a year for nontraumatic injuries.

Money apart, addressing the problem makes sense in purely human terms. The fact that 1.6 million employees every year have nontraumatic injuries serious enough to require some level of medical attention and cause physical discomfort is reason enough to justify OSHA's proposed countermeasures.

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