Contact: Bonnie Merrill Limbach
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPI URGES "FLEXIBILITY" IN ERGONOMICS INITIATIVES

WASHINGTON (July 24, 2001) – In a public forum on ergonomics safety in the workplace, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI) today urged the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to seek solutions based in government-supported research and outreach rather than “command-and-control regulation.”

Held in Stanford, Calif., the forum was one of three convened by U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao to solicit perspectives on the issue before deciding whether to move ahead with a new rulemaking process or recommend voluntary guidelines. SPI had opposed a previous Clinton Administration rulemaking that was killed by Congress in March, deeming it unworkable and unreasonably expensive. Speaking for SPI at today's hearing was Paul H. Appelblom, president of Jatco, Inc., of Union City, Calif., and vice chair of the Washington, DC-based trade association.

“SPI believes ergonomic principles are beneficial to both employers and employees in terms of productivity, worker comfort and worker safety, and should be a part of an employer's comprehensive health and safety program,” Appelblom said. However, he added, applications of such principles “should be based on sound science and accepted risk management practices.”

Arguing that one-size-fits-all plans could be counterproductive and possibly even detrimental, Appelblom said: “Any initiative that addresses ergonomics, whether regulatory-driven or industry-driven, should provide each facility with the flexibility to develop and implement a process for managing workplace ergonomic hazards and musculoskeletal disorders tailored to the operations, activities, needs, people and culture at that facility.”

Appelblom used his own company as an example of a smaller employer that has addressed the issue of ergonomics in a voluntary manner, based on its own work environment, with positive results. The Jatco program, he said, incorporates “common-sense principles” that minimize potential for work-related musculoskeletal disorders with employee education, on-the-job verification of skills, openness to workers' concerns and overall “trust and mutual cooperation in dealing with ergonomics issues.”

Based on his company's program and others like it, Appelblom said, “we hope you will understand why we believe the rescinded rule would have undermined our workers compensation and managed care systems, our labor-management relations, our efforts to ensure workplace safety in a balanced and practical manner, our productivity and global competitiveness, and our quality of life.”

Ergonomics is “one of the most complex issues in the area of occupational safety and health,” Appelblom asserted, and “clearly, government-supported research and outreach efforts that would provide assistance to employers in advancing the use of ergonomic principles would be of tremendous assistance.”

However, should OSHA shift away from outreach and toward government mandates, he said, “far greater concern must be given to avoiding programs that would undermine what is already working extremely well at places like Jatco”

Founded in 1937, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., is the trade association representing one of the largest manufacturing industries in the United States. SPI's 1,500 members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw material suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.5 million workers and provides $304 billion in annual shipments.

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