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May 15, 1996
Dear Mr. Chase:
Thank you for your letter of January 31, in which you requested
that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
issue a statement regarding its position on back and wrist supports.
As you noted in your letter, OSHA provided public access to
draft regualtory documents regarding ergonomic protection about
a year ago.
As part of the
Agency's development of a draft proposed standard, it considered
the available evidence on back and wrist supports and proposed
to explicitly note in the standard that such devices are not
considered to be personal protective equipment (PPE). OSHA made
this determination because back and wrist supports do not meet
the definition of PPE since their use does not control workplace
risk factors in the ways that other PPE devices do.
(Click here to read
statements regarding back belts as PPE, from the Federal Register) |
Although the Agency received some recommendations from stakeholders
to propose a provision to prohibit their use in the workplace,
it was determined that there was not sufficient evidence available
to take this approach. Had the proposal been published and a
public rulemaking record developed, this issue would have been
thoroughly addressed through public comment and testimony.
While the Agency believes that a standard to addresss ergonomic
protection is needed, OSHA is currently precluded from proceeding
on this rulemaking by restrictive language on its appropriations
bill. We do receive inquiries periodically about such devices,
but they are not frequent and do not seem to reflect the widespread
confusion your letter indicates. While these inquiries are usually
telephone calls and may be handled by any one of a large number
of people, we believe that the responses have been fairly consistent
and reflect the situation as noted above in the proposed rulemaking
process, i.e., that these devices are not considered PPE, but
that they are not prohibited for use in the workplace. We are
not aware of any widespread misinterpretation of the position
by our enforcement staff, but this letter will be made available
to them to ensure that it is clear.
The available evidence indicates there may be problems in
this area. OSHA in no way endorses or encourages the use of back
and or wrist supports in the workplace at this time. We also
question your assumption that the language in OSHA's draft proposed
text can be linked as a primary cause of the change in the business
conditions in your industry. It would be a rare occurance to
have a draft document in such early stages of rulemaking reach
and have an effect on so many employers. It appears that the
decline began before the documents were available, and that there
are many other factors that could be contributing to it.
We appreciate your interest in this important issue.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Dear
Assistant Secretary
(Emphasis Chase Ergonomics, ed.)
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