WASHINGTON, March 9, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- The American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) congratulates the U.S. House and Senate for voting to overturn sweeping new workplace ergonomic regulations enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and approved by President Clinton. On Wednesday, March 7, 2001, the House of Representatives followed the Senate's lead in approving a Joint Resolution to repeal the new standard using the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to dispense with standard procedure required to pass legislation to overturn regulation. President Bush has indicated he will sign the resolution.
OSHA has traditionally acknowledged the distinct differences between agricultural activities and other kinds of industries; agricultural business operations are subject to OSHA's "agricultural standard," rules specifically written for agricultural activities. But many agricultural operations would have been subject to the new, generic ergonomics standard. Compliance with the ergonomics standard was expected to be particularly difficult for nursery industry employers, as they faced the prospect of having a single employee performing both tasks that were covered by and exempt from the standard. Because at least 1,600 ANLA member companies would have been affected by the new standard, ANLA's government affairs division had been working both to find solutions and to prepare its members for compliance with the restrictive new standard since the first draft was proposed in 1999.
More than 30 lawsuits were filed in Circuit Court within days of the standard's promulgation to seek changes to the new rule, or to vacate it completely. After careful examination and review by legal counsel, ANLA decided to join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's lawsuit against OSHA. ANLA also joined as a co-petitioner with the American Farm Bureau in a separate suit that sought to clarify OSHA's definition of agriculture. ANLA lobbied hard alongside several other industry groups to win support for the Joint Resolution in Congress, with ANLA making a significant impact on the vote count by targeting legislative districts with concentrated agricultural interests, or where ANLA members had worked to elect the senator or representative.
"It's unfortunate that the focus has been on the legislative process used to overturn the rule, rather than the rule itself," said ANLA's Director of Regulatory Affairs Geoff Galster. "The debate over ergonomics has been reduced to a black-and-white issue, with those in favor of overturning the rule portrayed as supporters of big business and corporate America and enemies of labor. But the truth is that the agricultural community consistently experiences chronic labor shortages; agricultural employers simply cannot afford to be anti-worker. Many ANLA member companies have been family-owned for generations, with children and grandchildren doing the kinds of activities that the new standard sought to regulate. It's disgraceful to suggest that our members don't care about their employees' safety."
ANLA Executive Vice President Bob Dolibois called the proposed standard "a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach." A recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study, Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace: Low Back and Upper Extremities (2001), concludes that none of the common musculoskeletal disorders the new OSHA standard aimed to prevent is uniquely caused by work exposures. The study went on to describe many diverse risk factors (such as cultural values, psychological characteristics, age, gender, weight, stress, personal habits and recreational activities) as important non-work factors contributing to musculoskeletal injuries. Said Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC), former chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, said, "OSHA's rule will force employers to spend scarce resources in an increasingly futile attempt to prevent ergonomic injuries that are not caused by work but are nonetheless considered 'work related' by OSHA. What's worse, employers will be required to offer paid leave for injuries that may not even be work related."
For more than 125 years, the American Nursery & Landscape Association has been the national voice of the nursery and landscape industry. ANLA members grow, distribute, and retail plants of all types, and design and install residential and commercial customers landscapes. ANLA provides education, research, public affairs, and representation services to members. More information is available in our press center at www.anla.org.
American Nursery & Landscape Association
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CONTACT: American Nursery & Landscape Association
Lindsay Eagle, Director of Communications
(202) 789-5980, ext. 3012
leagle@anla.org
www.anla.org