The debate over how to prevent repetitive-stress injury in the workplace ratcheted up yesterday after the federal government released figures showing that in 1995, the number of cases declined for the first time in more than a decade.
These most recent data were contained in a report that showed overall non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses dropped to their lowest rate in a decade.
The number of repetitive-stress injury, or RSI, cases at private companies dropped 7 percent to 308,000 nationwide, from 332,000 in 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those cases accounted for 62 percent of all ailments in the occupational-illness category. The numbers (cases employers report to the government) fell for the first time since 1982.
Unions, which have been pushing for a regulation to stem RSI, and their opponents immediately squared off over what the data meant.
RSI - ailments of the hands, arms, shoulders and back caused by repeated motion - is one of the hottest and most controversial workplace issues facing the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. The agency, citing the growing number of cases and the cost of workers' compensation claims, tried to implement a standard two years ago that would have required employers to retool their factories and offices to make them safer. It was routed by the Republican-controlled Congress.
Last month, OSHA regrouped and named its first-ever ergonomics coordinator and announced a new approach to sell companies on the notion that a standard makes good business sense.
The largest declines occurred in those hard-hit industries on which OSHA has focused, such as meatpacking.
"This demonstrates a need for an OSHA standard for ergonomics," said Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Commitee for Occupational Safety and Health, a coalition of union and health professionals.
"If we made this much progress in dealing with the largest areas of occupational injuries, then with standards in place, we could make much more progress."
Al Lundeen of the National Coalition on Ergonomics, which represents 300 businesses, countered, "The concept that repetitive-stress injuries are out of control, are an epidemic in the workplace, is just not true ... It seems the present course is the one to follow, as opposed to jumping on a bandwagon of creating a regulation on something we know so little about."
One year's worth of numbers do not a trend make, cautioned OSHA spokesman Stephen Gaskill.
"We need to look at the numbers we will get next year to see if this is a trend."
Overall, the 6.6 million injuries and illness reported in 1995 occurred at a rate of 8.1 injuries per 100 workers, the lowest since 1986's rate of 7.9.