Hooked on Ergonomics

...Sounds pretty dangerous, until you learn the above activity involved squeezing icing from a bag to decorate a cake...

...Seventy percent of the work force now sits for a living, often in front of computers...

...age eye might consider it unkempt, John sees a potential deathtrap...

...For instance, when an employee complains of an MSD, his employer, instead of implementing a full ergonomics program, can opt for a "Quick Fix...

...OSHA never uses more than once a term it can turn into an acronym...

...Howard Sandler is an occupational medical expert associated with the industry-backed National Coalition on Ergonomics...

...The Small Business Administration puts the cost at $18 billion, while Food Distributors International, which conducted a six-figure analysis of its own, says it will cost the food-distribution industry alone $26 billion, with $6 billion in annual follow-up costs...

...for permitting employees to operate a "heavy 1.8 lb...

...For example, making available OSHA's management standard sounds simple...

...d. Keep a record of the Quick Fix measures...

...It got a boost during World War II, when pilots in cramped cockpits confused their flap controls with their landing gear, causing hundreds of accidents and making clear the need for better-designed fighter planes...

...In fact, to keep things simple for employers, OSHA helpfully assumes that all injuries are work-related...

...of Illinois was ordered to provide wide "adjustable-height foot rests," OSHA specified that employees' feet were to perch "at an angle of twenty-five degrees from the horizontal...

...Today, it is possible to purchase all things "ergonomic," from violas to vibrators...

...While it is difficult to settle on a generally agreed definition (books by ergonomists spend entire chapters hashing out what exactly ergonomics is), OSHA defines it as "the science of fitting the worker to the job," in employment where repetitive motions can result in musculoskeletal disorders...

...Between the acronyms unfolds an elaborate string of regulations that is not just daunting and burdensome but asinine...

...Even the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, an association of more rigorous ergonomists, has a relatively low threshold for entry: five years experience and a bachelor's degree in anything (only 6.5 percent of its members have a medical background...

...Then I don't want to catch any," he says...

...In 1992, OSHA tagged the American Brush Co...

...To get just a taste of the complexities, pick one of its provisions at random—say, the training section...

...The word "ergonomics" derives from the Greek words ergos (work) and nomos (laws...

...Assuming a "worst-case scenario" (when companies can't pass the cost on to consumers), makers of bakery products can say goodbye to 19.08 percent of their annual profits...

...So far-reaching is OSHA's rule that even some administration officials are balking...

...So every Friday and Saturday night, I have a little wrist pain...

...Getting OSHA's ergono-mists to defend the particulars in a sustained Q&A is no easy feat...

...Ludicrous though it may seem, this episode will be repeated, though not so amicably, in millions of workplaces across America if OSHA has its way...

...Instead, it claims just three groups are covered: manual handling jobs (grocery baggers, garbage collectors, etc...

...John supplies a handout...

...manufacturing jobs, and "other jobs with MSDs"—that is, whose workers are susceptible to musculoskeletal disorders, a category that encompasses the whole of American industry...

...Ergo-hysteria, naturally, is great for ergonomists, who for decades have been relegated to science's children's table...

...But John has not come to write citations...

...I tell John I don't have back strain...

...Only in the face of protests from Congress and industry did it extend the 60-day period to 90 days, ending March 1. Even so, Sarvadi says it has been impossible to obtain in time from OSHA's docket office all of the over 50,000 pages of exhibits needed to mount an adequate rebuttal...

...But while the averMatt Labash is a staff writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...

...Though journalists had been typing away on clunky, poorly designed typewriters for decades prior to the '80s, the increased use of computers saw them discovering new discomforts like carpal tunnel syndrome (resulting from pressure on the median nerve within the wrist's carpal tunnel...

...Even by OSHA's own miserly estimates (which have doubled since February 1999), the rule would cost industry $4.2 billion—making it the costliest regulation the agency has ever imposed...

...It is too busy fashioning lists...

...OSHA concedes much of this might be unnecessary if an employer already has an effective ergonomics program in place...

...The Bureau of Labor Statistics says a mere 0.6 percent of all reported injuries that required time away from work were due to use of keyboards...

...It's a group that consists primarily of aging white-collar baby boomers, a demographic never renowned for its stoicism...

...Labor secretary Alexis Herman withdrew the advisory letter the next day to prevent "widespread confusion," and eventually assured employers they wouldn't be subject to home inspections...

...But the rule doesn't actually come right out and say this...

...The lighting casts a glare on my computer screen that could cause "eye strain...

...In another ploy, OSHA leavens its intricate require ments with glimpses of how much worse they could've been...

...John says when I lift anything, "even a paper clip," I should visualize the lift, tuck the pelvis, bend the knees, and "hug the load...

...And when Anamet Inc...

...Nothing promises to be better for ergonomists than OSHA's proposed regulations...

...He is here at my invitation, as part of OSHA's voluntary consultation service, which affords businesses a chance to escape regulatory wrath by making sure they comply with OSHA's innumerable safety standards...

...Pinning down causation is hard, and OSHA has selectively pulled findings to buttress its position...

...Such elusive notions—and the general scarcity of quantitative analysis in epidemiological studies— can cause even fellow soft scientists to mention ergonomics with a smirk...

...For instance, OSHA was considering requiring every employer to assess his operation to determine where "MSD hazards" were present...

...The high-profile threat of carpal tunnel syndrome, which OSHA usually assumes is caused by typing, has been grossly inflated...

...But even some of the NIOSH study's own peer reviewers noted it failed to take account of contradictory findings or back up with evidence its judgment that work caused the pain...

...hazards, such as fractures and severed limbs, but suffer instead from often undiagnosable symptoms, such as wrist pain and tingling fingers...

...Near the end of the ergonomics rule, readers who haven't dozed off or quit in frustration will find a table setting forth OSHA's cost estimates...

...I mean to ask John if OSHA requires that somebody feed me grapes as I work, but his watch alarm goes off...

...The day after Congress adjourned, Jeffress, playing a little politics of his own, unveiled his rule, starting the clock on a 60-day period for public comment...

...In the third, the judge had the testimony of the agency's experts stricken as falling afoul of the Supreme Court's junk-science test...

...One of the studies OSHA touts loudest is a review of the literature conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Science and Health (NIOSH...

...Most of the time, companies hold their nose and swallow their medicine, electing not to challenge OSHA in costly litigation (OSHA fines range up to $7,000 per small violation, $70,000 per serious violation...

...Promised House majority leader Dick Armey, "This will be a short, one-sided conversation...

...OSHA says the best way to do this is to "ask the employee," but notes that employers will have "materially reduced" hazards if they implement controls that a "reasonable person" would assume reduce the likelihood of injury...

...While calling in an HCP is generally considered optional, following his advice is not: Once an HCP has recommended putting an employee on work restriction protection (WRP), the employer has only to obey...

...But last November, Senate Democrats threatened a filibuster to overcome a GOP blocking maneuver...

...b. Work with the employee to eliminate the hazard within 90 days (e.g., if the employee is experiencing a typing-related MSD, try a voice-activated computer...

...Though the ergonomics proposal has yet to generate as much public outrage as the letter on home offices, it should...

...Sure enough, Republicans in Congress have been staving off the ergonomics rule for years...

...It's not...

...When I called one, he said, "I have to send you to the media gestapo...

...If the HCP suggests WRP, the employee is put on light duty at full pay...

...A, SubPart 2, Paragraph VIII...

...A few days later, John motors over to The Weekly Standard and finds our parking garage full...

...And, under this worst-case scenario, according to OSHA's own numbers, makers of mens' and boys' clothing can kiss off 161.69 percent of their profits—meaning they will need to find second jobs to pay for compliance at their first ones...

...Even a self-proclaimed ergonomically correct product like Microsoft's wave-shaped keyboard may bear a warning that continuous use can cause repetitive stress injuries...

...Many hard scientists consider ergonomics on a par with, say, phrenology...

...George, who slew a dragon to win Britain's freedom...

...A phone-sex employee in Florida, for instance, recently won a worker's compensation settlement claiming she contracted carpal tunnel syndrome from masturbating up to seven times a day while talking to clients...

...A veritable haven for safety-obsessive meter maids, OSHA houses the most prolific citation-writers of any federal agency, and their popularity reflects it...

...Shaw's Supermarket subjected its employees to "sustained shoulder adduction" and dangerous "static wrist extensions with the power grip...

...He has vowed to enact the ergonomics rule this year—before a 12-month National Academy of Sciences study can cast doubt on the underlying "science" or a potential Republican administration can finally derail it...

...OSHA claims it's an easy read, proudly asserting that in compliance with Al Gore's Reinventing Government initiative, it's all written in "plain language...

...tape dispenser which places a great amount of torque on the hand and wrist...

...They instructed an Ohio Kroger grocery store to "locate the cash drawer to the side of the cashier (opposite the bag stand) at a height of 32-36 inches from the floor...

...First, repeated-trauma injuries have actually declined 24 percent since 1994 and make up just 4 percent of workplace injuries and illnesses...

...John knows a bit about citations, as an industrial hygienist with the D.C...

...Here is the Quick Fix list: a. Make available to the employee OSHA's MSD management standard...

...I assure him he will go ticketless in an adjoining alley, but John won't hear of it...

...But this doesn't stop OSHA from using the term "work-related MSDs" as if it meant something more than pain an employee complains of while at work...

...My office has always resembled an archaeological dig—a paper graveyard of stories past...

...Historically, OSHA has interpreted this seemingly benign clause as license to pounce on anyone for anything, often to comic effect...

...For instance, when I lift anything, "even a paper clip," I should visualize the lift, tuck the pelvis, bend the knees, and "hug the load...

...And it's not just the horny-handed sons of toil on auto assembly lines and slaughterhouse floors who need protection...

...While OSHA is required to provide a comment period, allowing critics to register their objections, it has done so on an exceedingly fast track...

...The "emerging science" of ergonomics began around the turn of the century, as studies were conducted to determine how to streamline tasks for productivity...

...But OSHA lays it on thick, claiming the percentage of carpal tunnel cases that required more than 30 days away from work exceeded that of fractures and even amputations...

...According to an internal memo obtained by The Weekly Standard, one OSHA official informed Jeffress, "We have a serious political problem at Commerce...

...branch of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...

...I wait for him to stretch, but there's no time...

...In fact, John sets his own alarm to go off every half hour, just as a reminder...

...Secretary Daley . . . is deeply opposed to our rule as currently drafted" and "could well start lobbying the Secretary/Office of Management and Budget/White House...

...Second, as all parties admit (though OSHA does so only in passing in its sprawling document), science has not so far been able to isolate single predictors of muscu-loskeletal pain, which is subjectively experienced but not always observable...

...The only lines of work that draw exemptions under the sweeping rule are construction, maritime industries, and agriculture—and only because OSHA intends to impose individual ergonomics regulations on each at a later date...

...Politically, this was the equivalent of OSHA's soaking itself in benzene and toasting up a cigarette (an act prohibited by OSHA standard 1910.1028, App...

...They must be "visually appealing," and the employer must convey them in "plain language"—as OSHA itself is so fond of doing...

...OSHA defines a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) as an illness or injury to soft tissues of the upper and lower extremities, as well as the back, "primarily caused or exacerbated by work place risk factors" such as "repeated exertion" or "awkward postures...

...On the other hand, if the HCP concludes the employee likely injured his back playing 36 holes of golf last Saturday, the HCP is not allowed to tell the employer...

...It involves: providing a prompt response to an injured employee, providing him a free health-care professional (HCP) for diagnosis and treatment, providing the HCP information about the job, the perceived MSD hazards, and the ergonomics standard, and obtaining a written opinion from the HCP on how to manage the employee's recovery...

...And those graphics, says OSHA, sounding like a schoolmarm instructing her class on a craft project, should not be "stale" or "invisible...

...You might think training would be easy: Call a staff meeting, slap on a video, break for lunch...

...A man with a mission, Jeffress likens his task to that of St...

...It shows, industry-by-industry, what percentage of profits affected firms will lose to compliance costs...

...There's always paranoia here, [but in light of OSHA's recent PR fiasco over home offices] there's even more now...

...If, God help you, your Quick Fix program doesn't work, you will of course be required to implement the full ergonomics program, the one that takes hundreds of pages to explain...

...A tortilla chip company has boasted of its chips' "unique ergonomic shape"— indented for "easy thumb and forefinger grip...

...If, however, the employee must cease work altogether, the employee is entitled to a six-month vacation at 90 percent of pay and 100 percent of benefits, unless he's ready to return before then and the hazard has been fixed...

...John is also concerned about my behavioral practices...

...Department stores will hemorrhage 41.53 percent of their annual profits...

...Naturally, each of the five points has subpoints, and those often have offspring...

...John is gone now...

...Lacking expertise, OSHA does not define a "reasonable person...

...e. Implement a full ergonomics program if the Quick Fix fails or another MSD of the same type occurs in the same job within three years...

...In light of the agency's recent concern that workplaces be ergonomically outfitted (ergonomics is the study of the body's interaction with the work space), I'm interested in finding out whether mine is sound...

...After I waited several days to be cleared for an in-person visit, which they initially indicated would be no problem, a flack finally responded: "I've been told we have to defer your request to another time...

...If an employee can't read, the employer is obligated to "provide information orally or through visual displays or graphics," OSHA says...

...The cups of water on my desk are a "hygiene violation...

...Fans of Gore's "Global Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Cooperation" will recognize the accessible, crackling prose style...

...Sandler himself has bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome...

...OSHA merely insists that the program meet all the agency's basic obligations and record-keeping requirements, as well as eliminate or "materially reduce" If God help you, your Quick Fix program doesn't work, you will of course be required to adopt the full 311-page ergonomics program...

...c. Put these Quick Fix measures in place within 90 days of identifying the problem, then check in 30 days to make sure they're working...

...As for my computer set-up, don't get John started...

...Proper ventilation is very important," he scolds...

...That would be Charles Jeffress, head of OSHA since 1997, who accuses Republicans of playing politics with ergonomics...

...He doesn't seem to care...

...Such setbacks have only steeled OSHA's nerve, while prompting industry critics, like National Coalition on Ergonomics counsel David Sarvadi, to call such agency enforcement measures "ramrod jobs...

...Last December, in a customer-satisfaction survey conducted by all federal agencies, OSHA tied for last place— with the IRS...

...As long as I don't drink, I don't have problems...

...In the last two decades, ergonomics has forsaken its emphasis on ease-of-use to become a quasi-religion of preventive medicine...

...With new maladies comes new consumer demand, which is why "ergonomic" is not so much a scientific term as a marketing one...

...And maybe, if the carpal tunnel syndrome is from obesity, and you have a 280 lb, 5' 1" typist, until she loses 100 pounds, guess what ain't going away—her carpal tunnel syndrome...

...And lately, OSHA has had public relations troubles...

...Even such a plain-language-ism as "personal protective equipment" becomes "PPE...

...I assure John I'm stewing in germs from my own recent illness...

...Translation in plain-language format: "No...

...With no regulatory oversight, manufacturers are on their honor when claiming their products are "ergonomically correct"—even if the science has not yet determined, for example, how much or even whether typing in a certain position causes injuries...

...This has industry groups panicked...

...all MSD hazards...

...Ergo, ergo-nuttiness knows no bounds...

...But as employment lawyer Eugene Scalia details in a forthcoming Cato Institute study, OSHA has suffered devastating losses in the only three ergonomics cases litigated to judgment...

...According to the memo, commerce secretary William Daley's policy director, Jon Orszag, formerly among OSHA's strongest allies, "feels convinced our rule is too broad, the grandfather clause is inadequate, etc...

...A Notre Dame student designed an ergonomic electric chair, sparing convicts the distress of facing electrocution without proper lumbar support...

...He takes a seat in my chair and says it's not up to specifications (indeed, when I later read OSHA's "Working Safely With Video Display Terminals," I see that my seat-pan should be 45.72 centimeters wide and "slightly concave with a softly padded 'waterfall' edge...

...In the first two cases, OSHA couldn't prove the injuries were caused by work...

...By contrast, private industry will have an attractive alternative: Ignore OSHA altogether and continue doing business as usual—from Mexico...

...OSHA concedes that MSDs have multiple causes: everything from pre-existing medical conditions like diabetes to "psychosocial factors" (several studies show job dissatisfaction is often characteristic of people citing pain...

...You would be wrong...

...When keystroking, I must be sure to take frequent stretch breaks...

...Uncertified, they are largely drawn from the ranks of industrial hygienists, engineers, and psychologists...

...They are largely untouched by old industrial-revolution A tortilla chip company has boasted of its chips' "unique ergonomic shape"—indented for "easy thumb and forefinger grip...

...The unanimous editorial denunciations and general ridicule that ensued were reminiscent of the mid '90s, when newly elected Republicans related OSHA horror stories about dentists afraid to return children's baby teeth for tooth-fairy recompense lest they violate disposal procedures (OSHA said the fear was groundless) and employers fined for failing to warn employees not to eat the toner from the copier machine...

...Besides, I don't want to spread germs...

...This is another bit of regulatory sleight-of-hand—call it the Do Exactly What We Say And You're Okay Grandfather Clause (DEWWSAYOGC...

...The proof that dire measures are needed, OSHA claims, is the recent proliferation of work-related MSDs— but this misleads on several counts...

...But I have mine from gout," he says...

...Late last year, OSHA quietly published its proposed ergonomics rule—a set of regulations for curtailing musculoskele-tal disorders that takes up 311 pages in the Federal Register...

...John has to go, and as I show him to the restroom, he's still thinking safety first...

...But as John unzips at the urinal, his head rolls back and he inspects the ceiling...

...But he has left me with much to think about, including a 19-point checklist on ergonomic stress at workstations, an 82-point OSHA safety checklist, a 44-point Army ergonomics checklist, and another 24-point ergonomics worksheet followed by a 145-point corrective action checklist...

...Maybe they just want attention...

...In January, the Washington Post surfaced an advisory letter sent to a Houston credit services employer, T. Trahan, who wished to know what his safety obligations were to his employees working at home...

...I can't go out," he says, though he is phoning from his office...

...Of course, if OSHA's ergonomics proposal stands, the agency will likely have to set up its own Quick Fix program for all its lawyers, at risk of carpal tunnel syndrome from banging out trial briefs in the avalanche of litigation that will inevitably ensue...

...This number, however, is in fierce dispute...

...Though no scientific study has ever proved that keyboarding alone causes carpal tunnel syndrome, that hasn't kept stories from proliferating over the last 15 years...

...OSHA concludes "that the proposed standard is economically feasible" because, well, it doesn't really say— you'll have to trust the agency here...

...The Weekly Standard restroom passes muster on soap, towels, and toilet seat covers...

...Its manifestations include everything from carpal tunnel syndrome to Raynaud's phenomenon to DeQuer-vain's disease to carpet-layer's knee—all falling under the umbrella of what one industry source calls "Jeffress's Pain In The Ass...

...Within days of its announcement, press releases were flying from altruistic ergonomists offering wares from the "Ergercise Video" to the "BioErgonomics and Stretch Station.™” Even without the proposed rule, OSHA has for years fined companies for ergonomics violations under the 1970 OSH Act's general-duty clause, which obligates employers to provide hazard-free workplaces...

...John says my mouse, which sits three inches from my keyboard, is not close enough—unless I fancy being a ticking carpal-tunnel time bomb...

...Other hazards abound...

...OSHA's reticence is understandable...

...But in its beneficence, the agency will not require this assessment and will simply assume that hazards are lurking everywhere...

...But over the years, he did more than $1 million in contract work for OSHA...

...Not only does OSHA suggest that training include a Q&A, but non-English speakers must be trained in their mother tongues, and English speakers must be trained at their various levels of comprehension...

...John says I need a foot rest to alleviate back strain...

...OSHA informed him that an employer was responsible for eliminating safety hazards from home offices, noting that if an employee works in his basement and "the stairs leading to the space are unsafe, the employer could be liable...

...The regulations and explanatory preamble are a hulking monstrosity...

...The papers on the floor are impeding my escape route and could result in "ignition from spontaneous combustion...

...OSHA has no time for such considerations...

...If implemented as is, the ergonomics standard would apply to nearly every occupation, imposing a multi-billion-dollar burden on American industry and effectively permitting OSHA microman-agerial oversight of historically unregulated preferences—such as the height of your chair...

...To achieve clarity, Herman called for the Clinton administration's favorite all-purpose salve, "a national dialogue...

...Grocery stores will lose 35.7 percent of their annual profits...

...Sandler, who regularly consults on MSD cases, says a sweeping regulation triggered by employee complaints is a recipe for disaster: "Maybe what the employee wants is a new desk...

...Already on the second reference, "flexor pollicus longus"—whatever that is—is "FPL...

...Sometimes OSHA safety inspectors double as feng shui consultants...

...My keyboard is too high, as is my chair, which could imperil the circulation behind my knees...

...You gotta watch those $20 citations," he says, trekking off to a garage some distance down the street...