Senate Committee Approves Ergonomics Bill

A bill requiring the U.S. Department of Labor to issue a final ergonomics standard within two years has been approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy. The vote on the bill (S.2184) was 11-10 with all Democrats and Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) in favor and all Republicans against.

In addition to sponsors John Breaux (D-La.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the bill now has 24 co-sponsors, with Specter the only Republican. It’s not clear how long it will take for the Senate bill to make it to the floor. Meanwhile, no similar bill has been introduced in the House.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who had pledged to work with labor to develop a standard, sent a letter to the committee saying she would recommend that Bush veto the bill in its present form.

In a further display of the department’s lack of concern about ergonomics, the agency announced this week that it will add yet another one-year delay to its decision on whether employers should have to specifically record ergonomic injuries on federal reporting forms.