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Battle Looms Over Ergonomic Standards
Swollen wrists. Blurred vision. Aching backs. Sore necks. CWA has spent 20 years fighting for workers at risk for ailments caused by poorly designed computer work stations. Now the federal government is pledging to tackle the problem as well.
Under a proposed Occupational Health and Safety Administration standard, employers would be legally bound to correct ergonomic problems if a worker is diagnosed with a job-related injury.
CWA and other unions are hailing the news, but it's not a victory yet. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have condemned it, claiming the rule is scientifically unfounded and will cost businesses billions. The groups nearly succeeded in derailing the proposal in Congress in 1999 and are threatening to take OSHA to court if the standard becomes law.
The Clinton Administration is expected to issue a final rule before the end of 2000, after a public comment period and three public hearings.
"The fight isn't over," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "We face a continuing assault by the business community and its conservative allies in Congress. Working people and their unions must stand tough to ensure that ergonomic protections become part of our nation's safety and health laws in the work place."
OSHA estimates that workplace improvements will cost employers $4.2 billion a year, but will save $9 billion annually in worker's compensation and other expenses related to health care and lost work. An estimated 1.8 million U.S. workers suffer injuries each year because of poor ergonomics, and a third of those require time off work.
"Good ergonomics is also good economics," U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman said, when she announced the proposal at a news conference Nov. 22.
Pioneering Studies
Pioneering ergonomic studies conducted or sponsored by CWA, dating as far back as 1979, erase any doubt about health problems suffered by telecommunications workers, newspaper reporters, public employees and others who spend hours a day working on computers.
In the mid-1980s, a study of 500 US West directory assistance operators in Denver, Local 7777, revealed a "catastrophic" number of illnesses that had required medical attention, said David LeGrande, CWA's occupational health and safety director. "More than 50 percent of the people had diagnosed repetitive motion problems," he said.
In 1989, CWA negotiated ergonomics language with US West and improved on it when a new contract was approved three years later. "The language was unique," LeGrande said, of the 1992 agreement. "The union had true equality in terms of the ergonomics committee and the way the issue was handled." For instance, he said, the union selected top ergonomic chairs from five manufacturers and employees were allowed to choose the chair that best suited them.
The language continued to get stronger in 1995 and 1998 contracts, and similar ergonomics standards are now part of Southwestern Bell contracts, too, LeGrande said.
As pleased as LeGrande is with OSHA's proposed ergonomic standards, he'd like to see it go a step further. In its present form, it doesn't automatically require employers to make ergonomic changes for telecommunications workers, reporters and other office-based employees. The requirement kicks in, however, at any job site where even one worker suffers a diagnosed repetitive strain injury. Affected businesses can choose a full-scale ergonomics program or try to fix the problem within 90 days. If the "quick fix" works, no further action is required.
Employers in manual handling and manufacturing businesses must address ergonomic problems whether or not someone lodges a complaint, as the proposal stands now. At the Nov. 22 news conference, a man who hangs thousands of chickens every day on overhead shackles at a poultry factory in Delaware told of crippling pain in his hands. An intensive care nurse from Massachusetts described a career-ending back injury she suffered while moving a patient.
"It's not just another rule or regulation," Secretary Herman said of the proposal. "It's about helping real people suffering from real problems."
LeGrande said CWA will ask OSHA to add computer users to the types of workers automatically covered by the proposal. He's concerned, though, that OSHA may go the other direction under pressure from the business lobby.
"The dangerous thing is that the trigger could get raised," he said. "Instead of one person injured, it might take five people. The higher the number, the more difficult it is to get the standard activated."
Crippled at Her Keyboard
Reach out to shake Debra Teske's hand and she's likely to step back, her arms safely at her sides. It's nothing personal. For Teske, it hurts just to lift a fork or brush her teeth. A handshake simply risks too much pain.
Seven hours a day, five days a week at a computer terminal as a Bell Atlantic service representative have left Teske with severe carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands.
"Anything you can imagine that you reach and grab and grip with your hands, it hurts," she said. "Gripping a steering wheel, washing your hair, grabbing a doorknob, slicing and dicing in the kitchen - the smaller and tighter something is, the more it hurts."
Teske, a member of CWA Local 2108 in Landover, Maryland, represented CWA and thousands of other victims of repetitive motion injury in November at an Occupational Health and Safety Administra-tion news conference in Washington, D.C. where U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman announced a proposed rule to govern workplace ergonomics. The proposal is being bitterly attacked by business leaders who claim they're not responsible for workers' repetitive-motion injuries.
"It's as bad as when the CEOs of cigarette companies stood up in Congress and said smoking doesn't cause lung cancer," Teske said.
Teske, 42, can't rake the leaves in her yard or drive a car without power steering. She's given up her favorite hobbies - gardening, bicycling and kayaking - because it's agonizing to hold the tools, handlebars and paddles. She wears plastic braces on her wrists every day at work and slips them on again at bedtime to prevent contorting her hands in her sleep.
During her early years on a computer in the late 1980s, Teske felt discomfort in her hands and wrists. By 1991, they were inflamed. "You could actually see the tissue come up above the bones," she said. She knew the problem was tied to her work, because the pain eased up on the weekends.
She saw a doctor who gave her splints for her wrists and prescribed vitamin B6 to reduce the swelling. She told Bell Atlantic managers about her problem but the company did nothing. "They had no reaction whatsoever," she said. "I wore braces for years and they might as well have been invisible."
In 1995, Teske had surgery on her right wrist. She turned to CWA for help when her claim was refused by her health insurance company. CWA got her a lawyer who helped her get full coverage through Workers' Compensation.
The operation brought back feeling to fingers that had become numb, but the swelling and pain in the rest of her hand were as bad as ever. After a long recovery without the results she'd hoped for, she decided not to have surgery on her left hand.
In 1998, Bell Atlantic finally gave Teske an ergonomically correct chair and workstation as part of an equipment upgrade for all service representatives. But it may be too late. Teske's carpal tunnel is so advanced that a physical therapist has told her she'll never heal as long as she has to type all day, even at a well-designed computer station.
After her surgery in 1995, a sympathetic supervisor moved Teske to a job that didn't require constant typing. "For those two years, I didn't miss a single day of work due to carpal tunnel," she said. Then the job was moved to another department and Teske had to go back to the computer.
Marilyn Irwin, the chief steward and incoming vice president of Local 2108, said she's continually asking supervisors to assign Teske tasks that require less time at the computer. For a few weeks at the end of 1999, she got Teske a temporary job working out vacation schedules.
"I'm always keeping my ears open for different aspects of the job that Debbie can perform and still be a viable, contributing member of the office," Irwin said. "Recently we got a service representative who's deaf. Some of us have to be on the phone to answer calls, but not everybody. It's the same with typing. Some jobs involve less typing than others, and they've got to pick somebody to do them."
CWA Landmarks In Ergonomics
1979 - CWA sponsors the first National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) study on computer-caused repetitive motion illnesses.
1981 - CWA and The Newspaper Guild begin to introduce legislation in more than 20 states to regulate computer workplace ergonomics.
1983 - A complaint about repetitive stress illnesses from CWA Local 9421 in Sacramento, Calif. leads CAL OSHA to cite a Pacific Bell directory assistance office. The citation is the first of its kind related to office ergonomics.
1983 - CWA and AT&T agree to computer workplace guidelines developed by Bell Laboratories and reviewed by CWA.
1985-89 - CWA initiates major repetitive motion studies and labor actions among telecommunications workers in Denver, leading to ergonomic language in contracts for US West employees in 14 states.
1990 - A first-of-its-kind study of repetitive motion illnesses and occupational stress is completed by CWA and the University of Wisconsin Department of Industrial Engineering, one of an ongoing series of ergonomic studies conducted by the union and UW.
1991 - A reproductive hazards study involving 5,000 CWA members employed by Bell South and AT&T is conducted by NIOSH. Significantly, the study found that computer users weren't at risk of harmful radiation emissions.
1998 - CWA and Johns Hopkins University finish the first major scientific study looking at occupational stress among service representatives for Bell Atlantic and AT&T, finding workplace stress was a significant health concern. The study is being expanded with a three-year grant from a private foundation.
1998 - CWA, the University of Wisconsin and Rowan University in New Jersey launch the first major study since the mid-1980s of repetitive motion illnesses and occupational stress among public employees. The research targeted CWA members working for the state of New Jersey. The state has agreed to conduct follow-up studies.
1998-99 - The first repetitive motion study involving installers, linemen, cable splicers, outside plant technicians and other telecommunications craft workers is conducted by CWA and the University of Wisconsin. Researchers identified problems with tool and equipment design and found a high rate of related health problems. A follow-up study is underway.
Having Your Say
Comments about OSHA's proposed ergonomics rule must be postmarked or e-mailed by Feb. 1. All comments and attachments must be submitted in duplicate.
The mailing address is: OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. S-777, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington DC 20210.
E-mail can be submitted through the OSHA website, where the proposal is available in detail. Go to www.osha.gov.
Comments of 10 pages or less can be faxed to the Docket Office at 202-693-1628.
Questions? Call 202-693-1628.
To appear at any of the three public hearings scheduled in February, March and April, you must file a notice of intent by Jan. 24. Send notices to Ms. Veneta Chatmon, OSHA Office of Public Affairs, Docket No. S-777, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Room N3647, Washington DC 20210.
The hearings are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. They are:
o Feb. 22, U.S. Department of Labor auditorium, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington D.C.
o March 21, Benson Hotel, 309 S.W. Broadway, Portland, Ore.
o April 11, James R. Thompson Center, State of Illinois Building, 100 W. Randolph St., Chicago, Ill.
Speakers seeking more than 10 minutes or who plan to introduce documents at the hearings, must submit the full text of their testimony and any documentary evidence by Feb. 1. For more information, call (202) 693-2119.
Under a proposed Occupational Health and Safety Administration standard, employers would be legally bound to correct ergonomic problems if a worker is diagnosed with a job-related injury.
CWA and other unions are hailing the news, but it's not a victory yet. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have condemned it, claiming the rule is scientifically unfounded and will cost businesses billions. The groups nearly succeeded in derailing the proposal in Congress in 1999 and are threatening to take OSHA to court if the standard becomes law.
The Clinton Administration is expected to issue a final rule before the end of 2000, after a public comment period and three public hearings.
"The fight isn't over," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "We face a continuing assault by the business community and its conservative allies in Congress. Working people and their unions must stand tough to ensure that ergonomic protections become part of our nation's safety and health laws in the work place."
OSHA estimates that workplace improvements will cost employers $4.2 billion a year, but will save $9 billion annually in worker's compensation and other expenses related to health care and lost work. An estimated 1.8 million U.S. workers suffer injuries each year because of poor ergonomics, and a third of those require time off work.
"Good ergonomics is also good economics," U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman said, when she announced the proposal at a news conference Nov. 22.
Pioneering Studies
Pioneering ergonomic studies conducted or sponsored by CWA, dating as far back as 1979, erase any doubt about health problems suffered by telecommunications workers, newspaper reporters, public employees and others who spend hours a day working on computers.
In the mid-1980s, a study of 500 US West directory assistance operators in Denver, Local 7777, revealed a "catastrophic" number of illnesses that had required medical attention, said David LeGrande, CWA's occupational health and safety director. "More than 50 percent of the people had diagnosed repetitive motion problems," he said.
In 1989, CWA negotiated ergonomics language with US West and improved on it when a new contract was approved three years later. "The language was unique," LeGrande said, of the 1992 agreement. "The union had true equality in terms of the ergonomics committee and the way the issue was handled." For instance, he said, the union selected top ergonomic chairs from five manufacturers and employees were allowed to choose the chair that best suited them.
The language continued to get stronger in 1995 and 1998 contracts, and similar ergonomics standards are now part of Southwestern Bell contracts, too, LeGrande said.
As pleased as LeGrande is with OSHA's proposed ergonomic standards, he'd like to see it go a step further. In its present form, it doesn't automatically require employers to make ergonomic changes for telecommunications workers, reporters and other office-based employees. The requirement kicks in, however, at any job site where even one worker suffers a diagnosed repetitive strain injury. Affected businesses can choose a full-scale ergonomics program or try to fix the problem within 90 days. If the "quick fix" works, no further action is required.
Employers in manual handling and manufacturing businesses must address ergonomic problems whether or not someone lodges a complaint, as the proposal stands now. At the Nov. 22 news conference, a man who hangs thousands of chickens every day on overhead shackles at a poultry factory in Delaware told of crippling pain in his hands. An intensive care nurse from Massachusetts described a career-ending back injury she suffered while moving a patient.
"It's not just another rule or regulation," Secretary Herman said of the proposal. "It's about helping real people suffering from real problems."
LeGrande said CWA will ask OSHA to add computer users to the types of workers automatically covered by the proposal. He's concerned, though, that OSHA may go the other direction under pressure from the business lobby.
"The dangerous thing is that the trigger could get raised," he said. "Instead of one person injured, it might take five people. The higher the number, the more difficult it is to get the standard activated."
Crippled at Her Keyboard
Reach out to shake Debra Teske's hand and she's likely to step back, her arms safely at her sides. It's nothing personal. For Teske, it hurts just to lift a fork or brush her teeth. A handshake simply risks too much pain.
Seven hours a day, five days a week at a computer terminal as a Bell Atlantic service representative have left Teske with severe carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands.
"Anything you can imagine that you reach and grab and grip with your hands, it hurts," she said. "Gripping a steering wheel, washing your hair, grabbing a doorknob, slicing and dicing in the kitchen - the smaller and tighter something is, the more it hurts."
Teske, a member of CWA Local 2108 in Landover, Maryland, represented CWA and thousands of other victims of repetitive motion injury in November at an Occupational Health and Safety Administra-tion news conference in Washington, D.C. where U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman announced a proposed rule to govern workplace ergonomics. The proposal is being bitterly attacked by business leaders who claim they're not responsible for workers' repetitive-motion injuries.
"It's as bad as when the CEOs of cigarette companies stood up in Congress and said smoking doesn't cause lung cancer," Teske said.
Teske, 42, can't rake the leaves in her yard or drive a car without power steering. She's given up her favorite hobbies - gardening, bicycling and kayaking - because it's agonizing to hold the tools, handlebars and paddles. She wears plastic braces on her wrists every day at work and slips them on again at bedtime to prevent contorting her hands in her sleep.
During her early years on a computer in the late 1980s, Teske felt discomfort in her hands and wrists. By 1991, they were inflamed. "You could actually see the tissue come up above the bones," she said. She knew the problem was tied to her work, because the pain eased up on the weekends.
She saw a doctor who gave her splints for her wrists and prescribed vitamin B6 to reduce the swelling. She told Bell Atlantic managers about her problem but the company did nothing. "They had no reaction whatsoever," she said. "I wore braces for years and they might as well have been invisible."
In 1995, Teske had surgery on her right wrist. She turned to CWA for help when her claim was refused by her health insurance company. CWA got her a lawyer who helped her get full coverage through Workers' Compensation.
The operation brought back feeling to fingers that had become numb, but the swelling and pain in the rest of her hand were as bad as ever. After a long recovery without the results she'd hoped for, she decided not to have surgery on her left hand.
In 1998, Bell Atlantic finally gave Teske an ergonomically correct chair and workstation as part of an equipment upgrade for all service representatives. But it may be too late. Teske's carpal tunnel is so advanced that a physical therapist has told her she'll never heal as long as she has to type all day, even at a well-designed computer station.
After her surgery in 1995, a sympathetic supervisor moved Teske to a job that didn't require constant typing. "For those two years, I didn't miss a single day of work due to carpal tunnel," she said. Then the job was moved to another department and Teske had to go back to the computer.
Marilyn Irwin, the chief steward and incoming vice president of Local 2108, said she's continually asking supervisors to assign Teske tasks that require less time at the computer. For a few weeks at the end of 1999, she got Teske a temporary job working out vacation schedules.
"I'm always keeping my ears open for different aspects of the job that Debbie can perform and still be a viable, contributing member of the office," Irwin said. "Recently we got a service representative who's deaf. Some of us have to be on the phone to answer calls, but not everybody. It's the same with typing. Some jobs involve less typing than others, and they've got to pick somebody to do them."
CWA Landmarks In Ergonomics
1979 - CWA sponsors the first National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) study on computer-caused repetitive motion illnesses.
1981 - CWA and The Newspaper Guild begin to introduce legislation in more than 20 states to regulate computer workplace ergonomics.
1983 - A complaint about repetitive stress illnesses from CWA Local 9421 in Sacramento, Calif. leads CAL OSHA to cite a Pacific Bell directory assistance office. The citation is the first of its kind related to office ergonomics.
1983 - CWA and AT&T agree to computer workplace guidelines developed by Bell Laboratories and reviewed by CWA.
1985-89 - CWA initiates major repetitive motion studies and labor actions among telecommunications workers in Denver, leading to ergonomic language in contracts for US West employees in 14 states.
1990 - A first-of-its-kind study of repetitive motion illnesses and occupational stress is completed by CWA and the University of Wisconsin Department of Industrial Engineering, one of an ongoing series of ergonomic studies conducted by the union and UW.
1991 - A reproductive hazards study involving 5,000 CWA members employed by Bell South and AT&T is conducted by NIOSH. Significantly, the study found that computer users weren't at risk of harmful radiation emissions.
1998 - CWA and Johns Hopkins University finish the first major scientific study looking at occupational stress among service representatives for Bell Atlantic and AT&T, finding workplace stress was a significant health concern. The study is being expanded with a three-year grant from a private foundation.
1998 - CWA, the University of Wisconsin and Rowan University in New Jersey launch the first major study since the mid-1980s of repetitive motion illnesses and occupational stress among public employees. The research targeted CWA members working for the state of New Jersey. The state has agreed to conduct follow-up studies.
1998-99 - The first repetitive motion study involving installers, linemen, cable splicers, outside plant technicians and other telecommunications craft workers is conducted by CWA and the University of Wisconsin. Researchers identified problems with tool and equipment design and found a high rate of related health problems. A follow-up study is underway.
Having Your Say
Comments about OSHA's proposed ergonomics rule must be postmarked or e-mailed by Feb. 1. All comments and attachments must be submitted in duplicate.
The mailing address is: OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. S-777, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington DC 20210.
E-mail can be submitted through the OSHA website, where the proposal is available in detail. Go to www.osha.gov.
Comments of 10 pages or less can be faxed to the Docket Office at 202-693-1628.
Questions? Call 202-693-1628.
To appear at any of the three public hearings scheduled in February, March and April, you must file a notice of intent by Jan. 24. Send notices to Ms. Veneta Chatmon, OSHA Office of Public Affairs, Docket No. S-777, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Room N3647, Washington DC 20210.
The hearings are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. They are:
o Feb. 22, U.S. Department of Labor auditorium, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington D.C.
o March 21, Benson Hotel, 309 S.W. Broadway, Portland, Ore.
o April 11, James R. Thompson Center, State of Illinois Building, 100 W. Randolph St., Chicago, Ill.
Speakers seeking more than 10 minutes or who plan to introduce documents at the hearings, must submit the full text of their testimony and any documentary evidence by Feb. 1. For more information, call (202) 693-2119.