Casinos fighting new OSHA rule

David Strow

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

The Nevada Resort Association is joining in the opposition to a new federal standard designed to protect workers from repetitive stress disorder injuries, set to go into effect Jan. 16.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) introduced its new ergonomics regulation into the Federal Register on Monday. The rule would require employers to implement education and prevention programs to prevent such injuries to at-risk groups of employees. Any employer would be required to implement such programs after a single employee reported a repetitive stress injury -- however, employers would not be required to pay for surgery, medical treatment or medication related to the injuries.

Wayne Mehl, lobbyist for the NRA, said the proposal is essentially the same as one unsuccessfully proposed by OSHA in 1995. However, Mehl believes OSHA decided to re-introduce it because its window of opportunity was closing with the end of the Clinton administration.

OSHA estimates the programs will cost employers $4.5 billion per year to implement, but would result in $9.1 billion in benefits.

"Our primary concern is that we don't believe you can accept OSHA's analysis at face value ... we don't believe the $4 billion to $5 billion (in costs) is an accurate figure," Mehl said. "Before we can accept this, it would have to be analyzed in a way we could accept, with some reasonable cost-benefit ratio."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already filed suit to stop the program's implementation. Other groups opposing the proposal include the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Resources could also attempt to force OSHA to withdraw the proposal by threatening its funding, Mehl said. However, he said other national organizations are leading the fight against the proposal.

"We're literally the tail on the dog here," Mehl said.