Milling & Baking News - April 6, 2010 - 34

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Bakers vigorously oppose new OSHA
musculoskeletal disorder proposal
WASHINGTON - A proposal by
the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration to change how employers track musculoskeletal disorders has drawn harsh criticism from
the baking industry.
The proposed rule, first published
in the Jan. 29 issue of the Federal
Register, would restore a column to
the OSHA 300 log, a register of work
related injuries. The column would
be used to record work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Both the American Bakers Association and the Independent Bakers
Association submitted comments
March 30 in opposition to the proposal.
"We strenuously urge OSHA to
reverse course and conclude that it
should not issue the final recording
and reporting requirements at this
time," said Rasma I. Zvaners, policy
director at the A.B.A.
Reasons the A.B.A. stands in opposition to the proposal relate to the
current science around M.S.D.s and
the cost of complying with requirement.
"The A.B.A. believes that the current state of scientific and medical
knowledge regarding musculoskeletal disorders does not justify the
proposed recording and reporting
requirements," Ms. Zvaners said.
"Moreover, the national occupational injury and illness statistics
prepared by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics are sufficient to accomplish OSHA's goals - additional
reporting is not necessary. OSHA
attempts to minimize the impact of
the proposed rule but drastically
underestimates the costs of implementation."
Elaborating on its objections, the
A.B.A. noted that OSHA justifies its
proposal based on the idea that the
log column would:
1) improve the accuracy and completeness of national occupational
injury and illness data;
2) offer valuable industry-specific information to help OSHA in its
work to address workplace M.S.D.s;
and
3) provide useful establishmentlevel information helpful to employers and employees.
A significant part of the A.B.A.
objections rested on a lack of scientific and medical consensus on the
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causes of and remedies for M.S.D.s.
Ms. Zvaners noted that the rule
lumps a large number of conditions
in the M.S.D. category, including
carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator
cuff syndrome, De Quervin's disease, Trigger finger, Tarsal tunnel
syndrome, sciatica, epiconylitis,
tendinitis, Raynaud's phenomenon,

Carpet layers knee, herniated spinal
disc and lower back pain.
The A.B.A. said "serious questions remain over the aggregation
reflected in OSHA's designated term
- M.S.D. - as to whether it actually represents a diagnostic medical condition or is merely a term of
convenience in which to group unrelated symptoms, complaints and
manifestations of ordinary fatigue."
The A.B.A. expressed the concern
that the proposed rule would lead
to possibly inaccurate connections
between disorders and work-related activity. Absent scientific consensus, the information could be used
to conclude "there are ergonomic
solutions to each of these injuries
and illnesses" when that may not be
the case, the A.B.A. said.
The bakers said this proposal was
particularly a worry for smaller
baking companies.
"For example, decreasing the
weight of the materials handled in
the baking industry could lead to
significant costs that will ultimately
be passed onto the consumer by increasing the cost of the baked good,"
Ms. Zvaners said. "When a baker decreases the weight of the flour bags
it uses, the costs it incurs increases
because they are now dealing with
more bags and a higher cost per bag.
If that baker does not request lighter
boxes of shortening, pails of icing
and other ingredients from its suppliers, then the costs will be similar
to the flour bags."
Ms. Zvaners said that OSHA's estimate that the total cost of compliance with the new rule will be $1.7

Washington

million per year across the economy "seriously underestimates the
amount of time it will take affected
employers to familiarize themselves
with the proposed M.S.D. reporting procedures" and to determine
whether a particular case is an
M.S.D.
Beyond the burden that would
result from the new log, the A.B.A.
described as particularly "fearful"
the prospect that OSHA will use the
new data to "increase enforcement
in an aggressive and overreaching
manner."
"This is not an unrealistic fear,
because, in its own words, OSHA
explicitly states that the proposed
rule 'will provide valuable and industry specific information to assist OSHA in effectively targeting
its inspection, outreach, guidance
and enforcement efforts to address
workplace MSDs.'"
Ms. Zvaners described the proposal as a violation of a 2001 agreement
between OSHA and the National Association of Manufacturers because it
removes language describing "minor
musculoskeletal discomfort" as not
recordable. She noted that under the
agreement, the wording is in effect
"if a health care professional determines that the employee is fully able
to perform all of his or her routine job
functions, and the employer assigns
a work restriction for the purpose of
preventing a more serious injury."
She said deleting the wording "constitutes a violation of the black letter
of the agreement."
Nicholas A. Pyle, president of the
I.B.A., said the change would leave
"an arbitrary wide open interpretation to what an M.S.D. is."
Confusion would result, he said,
leading to an "underreporting of
cases in some instances and overreporting in others."
Mr. Pyle also expressed concern
about the cost.
"OSHA grossly understates the
amount of resource, time and expense that business will be spending in adapting to the change and
subsequent reporting," he said.
"Owner/H.R. employees not familiar with OSHA regulations will have
to spend time to understand the
regulations, consuming time and
money. This will hurt small business the most, who will need to hire
an outside specialist to ensure they
meet OSHA regulations while larger
companies would be able to absorb
the cost." MBN
Milling & Baking News April 6, 2010 / 35

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Milling & Baking News - April 6, 2010

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