Charles Norwood: “This is not an issue about basically ergonomics and workforce problems with repetitive motion, this is an issue about a…”

“This is not an issue about basically ergonomics and workforce problems with repetitive motion, this is an issue about a rule that is absolutely awful. It is about a rule that will stop repetitive motion injuries by making sure people cannot work. It is a rule that must be rewritten in a fair and balanced way. On November 14, 2000, OSHA finalized a fatally flawed rule that regulates every motion in the workplace. But OSHA did not stop there. As they did years ago with the blood-borne pathogen standard, OSHA also created a Federal workers' compensation system that will undermine State workers' compensation laws. This ergonomics regulation simply cannot be salvaged as written. This must be sent back to the drawing board, and that is what this debate is about, that is what this vote is about. This is a bad rule. Let us begin again and get it right. Although OSHA tells us that this is an ergonomics regulation, this regulation is not limited to those repetitive stress injuries generally associated with ergonomics; no, this ergonomics regulation covers all disorders of the muscles, the nerves, the tendons, the ligaments, the joints, cartilage, blood vessels, and spinal disks. To make matters worse, OSHA has made it nearly impossible in this rule for an employer to claim that an injury is not work related.”