American Nurses Association Denounces OSHA Ergonomics Plan

Washington, DC -- "Calling the plan "totally inadequate," American Nurses Association (ANA) President Mary E. Foley, MS, RN, assailed the release on Friday of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ergonomics guidelines by noting that they "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," Foley asserted.

The ANA has long supported establishment of ergonomics rules that mandate employer compliance and was shocked last year when Congress voted to rescind the final OSHA ergonomics standard.

"The OSHA Ergonomics Standard, taken away from us by Congress in March of 2001, was the most important federal effort to date to prevent disabling back injuries to health care workers," said Foley. "Since then, we have waited for Department of Labor Secretary Chao to fulfill her promise to pursue a comprehensive approach to ergonomics so that nurses and all workers will be protected. We had a strict, enforceable standard that required employers to protect their workers from preventable injuries. Now all we have are unenforceable ‘best practice' suggestions that offer no real solutions to workplace injuries."

As Foley noted, nurses are in need of a federal ergonomics mandate because the repetitive patient handling tasks required as a regular part of patient care are a frequent cause of musculoskeletal disorders.

The health care occupations of nurses' aide and registered nurse rank first and sixth, respectively, among U.S. occupations at risk for strains and sprains, outranking construction laborers and stock handlers. And, although effective control measures exist to reduce these risks, few health-care employers have voluntarily implemented them. "Without a federal mandate," Foley said, "there will always be higher priorities in health care than preserving the health and safety of workers."

The absence of enforceable ergonomics regulations is also putting an even greater strain on the nation's health care industry, which is already facing a nursing shortage that is fast reaching crisis proportions. And many nurses view the potential for disabling injuries as a major contributing factor in their decision to leave the profession. In an ANA Health and Safety survey conducted last year, 60 percent of nurses surveyed cited a disabling back injury as ranking among their top three health and safety concerns. Additionally, nurse respondents stated that more than half the facilities in which they worked did not have lifting and transfer devices readily available for moving patients.

Of further disappointment to ANA has been the decision by OSHA and the Department of Labor (DOL) to spend additional money on generating more research when the prestigious National Academy of Sciences has already reviewed existing ergonomics literature and found that it supports the need for an OSHA standard. In addition, the DOL and OSHA have not reached out to include workers and the organizations that represent them in seeking solutions to these problems.

"Every day nurses suffer debilitating, and often career-ending and life-altering injuries from lifting and moving patients," said Foley. "After 10 years of intensive work by OSHA – including hearings, investigations and public input – we should not have to continue jeopardizing our own health while waiting still longer for answers."

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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