As OSHA withdraws ergonomics proposal, here’s what else it should rethink

In its second course reversal in a week, OSHA has withdrawn a proposal to step up recordkeeping requirements for ergonomic injuries, naturally raising questions about what else the agency might be rethinking. My suggestion is to look next at the proposed Injury and Illness Prevention Program, known as I2P2.

The ergonomics proposal would have required employers to enter musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses in a separate column on their OHSA logs. The agency said in a news release that small business had raised concerns about the plan and that it was being temporarily withdrawn to gather more input.

The ergonomics proposal and a proposed noise control initiative withdrawn last week were in the forefront of OSHA’s massive enforcement push over the last two years. While it is unclear what is behind the two withdrawals, the timing is interesting — coming just after President Obama announced a plan to revise federal regulations deemed excessive and harmful to economic growth.

There is no indication whether OSHA plans to backtrack elsewhere and doing so would be much more difficult in many cases since it would mean pulling back on initiatives that have already been put in place, such as the Severe Violators Enforcement Program and the substantial increases in average penalties across the board.

However, there is another proposal not yet implemented that OSHA would be well-advised to rethink – the Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Under that plan, announced last spring, all employers under OSHA’s jurisdiction would be required to have a safety program following specific federal guidelines.

While I agree with the idea of requiring all employers to have a safety program, it is impractical to have very specific federal requirements for those programs, since there are so many differences among businesses. I2P2 is another case of OSHA overstepping and it ought to be rethought.