07/11/2001
by Jack FarisThis month, the United State Department of Labor (DOL) is holding public hearings on the issue of ergonomics - that is, ergonomic injuries and the need (or lack of a need) for federal workplace standards designed to protect workers from these alleged injuries. It is an issue that has come up before. President Clinton's Labor Department issued a sweeping ergonomics regulation in the last months of his term of office... with the apparent hope that, in the hubbub of presidential transition, its size and implications would not be noticed.
But people did notice. Small employers, in particular, noticed. They did their homework and figured out that it would have been the most burdensome, expensive, intrusive regulation ever to be imposed on the small-business community. They knew that there was no scientific basis for the regulation and could cost up to $2,000 per employee to implement. They asked Congress and the new president to stop it - and they did.
But ergonomics, most commonly identified with phrases like "repetitive motion injuries" is still an issue that demands attention. When stopping the Clinton regulation, the new president and Congress promised that the issue would not go away, that it needed a comprehensive approach including further research. So the general purpose of the hearings taking place this month (July 16 and 17 in Washington, DC; July 20 in Chicago, Ill.; July 24 in San Francisco, Calif.) is for the current leadership at the DOL to gain a sense of what the needs and concerns are of a number of groups... particularly those of labor and small business.
You will likely see a few news stories about these hearings and about the debate over ergonomics. Labor unions will insist, loudly and in threatening tones, that a federal regulation is absolutely necessary to protect workers. Their message will directly imply that employers don't care about their employees and are asking them to perform tasks that are physically debilitating, hideously uncomfortable.
And the small-business community will then be faced with the challenge of defending themselves against those accusations. Most of the employers in this country are the head of very small firms, businesses where the atmosphere is one of family, not sweatshop. And a federal ergonomics standard will likely fall the hardest on those small shops. Federal regulation too often treats all business the same, and putting a big regulation on a small family shop can be crushing.
When you read about the ergonomics debate in the papers or see it on the evening news, please remember that the phrase "working Americans" is going to be abused, that the owners of small businesses will be left out of that definition even though they work more hours and earn about the same pay as wage and hour workers. Please remember that small employers are also friends and family to their employees and are already doing as much as possible to keep their work environment safe and comfortable. After all, in a small firm the employer works side-by-side with the employee; they know the shape of the workspace and the demands of the job as well as anyone, and their motivation for improving it is pure, simple and true.
This debate over ergonomics is going to be a classic "David vs. Goliath" with big labor unions playing the part of Goliath. The labor unions, who want an ergonomics regulation to be a federal version of state workers' compensation programs (which have been labored over by competent state lawmakers for years... and which are functioning quite effectively on their own), will fight this battle with money and tricks. Small business will fight it with reality, with the truth. So please remember to listen extra closely to the small-business owner who submits his or her modest requests at the DOL hearings. From their mouths will come the common sense on which this new labor standard should be based.
Publications are encouraged to reprint these columns in their entirety. Please ensure that the following credit information is included in reprints: "Jack Faris is president of NFIB, the nation's largest small business advocacy group. A nonprofit, non-partisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB represents the consensus views of its 600,000 members in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. More information is available online at www.NFIB.com."
CONTACT: Michelle Dimarob, (202) 554-9000
