“It will increase the number of recordable incidents by broadening what might qualify as an MSD,” he says. “So after collecting the data for a while, I wouldn’t be surprised to see OSHA announce that there is a major MSD problem and decide to do something about it.”
Ashley Brightwell, a partner in the Atlanta office of Alston & Bird, agrees the rules could lead to “future actions by OSHA to regulate MSDs … and increase the number of citations being issued against employers.”
On Jan. 29, OSHA proposed new rules that would require employers to track and report workplace-related musculoskeletal disorders. While the changes are ostensibly little more than additional record-keeping, experts warn the proposal could likely pave the way for further enforcement and rulemaking by the agency. Â
OSHA wants to restore a column to the OSHA 300 log that would record work-related musculoskeletal disorders, such as carpal-tunnel syndrome and rotator cuff syndrome. The rules are identical to those contained in an OSHA record-keeping regulation that was issued in 2001 by the Clinton administration, but was removed in 2003 during the Bush presidency before ever going into effect. Â
Critics argued at the time that the definition used to describe musculoskeletal disorders was far too broad to be useful and that the new column wouldn’t contain the type of detailed information that would be needed to address the problem of musculoskeletal disorders.
