March 22, 2002—A recent issue of Safety Currents, reports that Senate Labor Committee hearing on ergonomics with Labor Secretary Chao scheduled for Thursday, March 14, was postponed. Sources say there is now a direct conflict with the mark-up on the judicial nomination of Charles Pickering, since that vote was delayed by Republicans.
According to the report, Chao was asked in a letter February 28 signed by three Democratic senators for the names of all officials, including those at the White House, who have been part of devising a new policy.
March 20, 2002, marks the one-year anniversary of the repeal of the ergonomics standard. Since last year, 1.8 million workplace ergonomics-related injuries have occurred, according to a running count kept by the AFL-CIO.
Safety Currents is published by Coastal Training Technologies Corp.
