The new ergonomics plan: It's unanimous . . . well, almost

The new ergonomics plan: It's unanimous . . . well, almost

The new ergonomics plan from OSHA has received a warm welcome from nearly all of the occupational health professional societies. In addition to the enthusiastic response from both American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and at the American Occupational Health Conference in Chicago, the Chicago-based American Hospital Association (AHA) has weighed in with words of support.

AHA revealed in the April 15, 2002, edition of AHA News that it was pleased to work with OSHA to develop voluntary guidelines applicable to the special circumstances and situations found in hospitals.

However, in the same article, titled "the ANA assails OSHA's new ergonomics plan," Mary Foley, RN, president of the American Nurses Association, said that the new guidelines "offer no real protection against serious workplace ergonomics injuries that affect up to one-third of all nurses. What we need are comprehensive regulations that are backed by government enforcement, not just boutique offerings that industry can pick and choose from."

(Editor's note: The complete article can be found at www.ahanews.com.)