Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's Employment, Safety and Training Subcommittee, has asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to postpone a July 7 hearing on the agency's new ergonomics regulations proposal.
Citing the rule's potential effect on the U.S. Postal Service and state and local governments, Enzi asked OSHA for more time to consider the proposal.
"The proposed ergonomics rule is one of the most far-reaching and burdensome rules OSHA has ever undertaken . . . and is trying to push it through without sufficient consideration," Enzi charged in a letter labeled May 26 to Charles Jeffress, OSHA assistant secretary.
An OSHA spokesman said the agency plans to respond to Enzi's inquery.
Enzi's request for more time stems from an economic analysis of the OSHA rule's impact on the USPS and state and local governments that was published on May 23, six months after the initial publication of its proposal. Enzi argued in his letter that OSHA has not given governments and the Postal Service enough time to evaluate the analysis.
"The fact that OSHA neglected to perform economic analyses for such significant sectors at the beginning of the process, is yet another indication that OSHA has already made up its mind about the proposed standard," Enzi wrote.
Enzi also charged that OSHA's desire to implement the rule speedily was due to political pressure.
"If OSHA continues to succumb to political pressure and [forges] recklessly ahead with the proposed standard, the final product will assuredly be a sloppy rule that not only fails to advance worker health and safety, but also threatens the viability of businesses across the country," he wrote.
In a hearing at the end of April, members of Enzi's subcommittee were critical of OSHA's plan because they said it could tamper with state worker compensation laws. Jeffress, who testified at the hearing, denied the charge and said the proposed OSHA rule would not supersede any worker's compensation law.