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July 7, 1999 11:07 AM, EDT

The battle between industry groups and federal regulators over proposed ergonomics rules intensified late last month as a House of Representatives committee voted to pass a bill that would delay implementation of the rules pending further study.

That same day, Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said if Congress passed the measure, she would urge President Clinton to veto it.

The Workplace Preservation Act, sponsored by Missouri Republican Roy Blunt and others, passed the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on a 23-18 vote June 23. It prevents the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from putting into effect the draft ergonomics standards it released in February — to almost universal industry disapproval.

OSHA officials had hoped to put the standards out for public comment in September and have a final rule in place near the end of 2000 (5-17, p. 4). But the political winds seems to be blowing against the agency’s effort.

Are the standards based on respectable research or not? It depends on whom you talk to.

For the full story, see the July 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.