Bush Administration To Release Ergonomics Guidelines

Danielle Jackson

Washington, D.C. -- Labor Department officials announced today that they will develop voluntary guidelines instead of mandating changes to help certain industries reduce workplace injuries. Mandatory regulations originally were proposed during the Clinton administration but were repealed by Congress last year.

Since the repeal, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao has been pressured by several Democratic Senators, as well as several business groups, to come up with new regulations as she promised to do by last September.

"This plan is a major improvement over the rejected old rule because it will prevent ergonomics injuries before they occur and reach a much larger number of at-risk workers," Chao said today in a prepared statement.