Food Distributors International, a Washington-based association that represents food wholesalers, has released a study that concludes that new ergonomic rules being considered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could cost the association's 242 member companies as much as $26 billion in one-time costs and $6 billion in recurring costs.
The $26 billion figure amounts to one-quarter of the industry's annual sales.
"We knew this regulation would cost billions, but we couldn't say for sure without quantifying it," said Kevin Burke, vice president for government relations at FDI.
Supporters of OSHA's proposed regulations-which are slated to be issued this month-say they would prevent injuries among workers whose jobs entail repetitive-motion stresses, from lower-back pain due to lifting heavy objects to carpal-tunnel syndrome from typing.
OSHA says that work-related musculoskeletal disorders, as they are known, resulted in 647,000 lost workdays in 1996, one-third of that year's total lost workdays. Those missed days cost companies $15 billion to $20 billion in workers' compensation and $45 billion to $60 billion in indirect costs, OSHA says.
On Oct. 31, Assistant Secretary of Labor Charles N. Jeffress said the ergonomics regulations would cost American business $4.5 billion. But even the FDI study's more conservative estimates totaled more than that, Burke said-and that was for just one industry.
"We think OSHA's intentions are good, but their numbers are way off base," Burke said. "They haven't got a clue about how much this will cost industry across the board."
The FDI study-which was conducted by a Chicago consultant and which cost FDI a six-figure sum-is part of an ongoing campaign by business groups to undermine OSHA efforts to propose new ergonomics standards. In addition to FDI, leaders of the anti-ergonomics coalition include the American Bakers Association, the American Trucking Associations, the National Federation of Independent Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and United Parcel Service.
Burke said FDI has presented its study to officials at both OSHA and the Office of Management and Budget. OMB must review regulations before they are sent out for public comment. "Our hope is that this study will raise serious concerns at OMB about the economic impact of this rule on American business."
In a statement, Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., praised the study, saying that "it further demonstrates the need for OSHA to wait for the study being done by the National Academy of Sciences, which is examining whether sufficient evidence exists to support an ergonomics rule."
Bond, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, earlier this year introduced legislation that would have prevented OSHA from proposing the regulations until the NAS study was complete. He also offered an appropriations rider that would have set the same restriction, before withdrawing it in the face of a Democratic filibuster threat.
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