Two of Washington State’s leading ergonomists have endorsed Initiative 841, the measure supported by a broad coalition of business groups that would scrap Washington’s burdensome ergonomics regulations.

William Brough, CPE, president of Washington Ergonomics, Inc., and Ian Chong, CPE, president of Ergonomics Inc., have come out in support of I-841, which abolishes the ergonomics regulations adopted by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) in 2000, and prevents the state from taking any further action on ergonomics until the federal government establishes a national standard.

Washington’s ergonomics regulations force businesses with so-called “caution zone jobs” (jobs that require repetitive motions such as lifting, gripping, working with arms above the head, squatting or kneeling, etc.) to limit the amount of work done by employees, and mandate education and training for workers on how to avoid ergonomic-related injuries. Ironically, most businesses have already initiated such programs voluntarily, and ergonomic-related workplace injuries have declined 28 percent.

Both Brough and Chong are Certified Professional Ergonomists (CPE) with years of experience in ergonomics. Professionally certified CPE’s are educated in the field of ergonomics and use ergonomics principles to develop programs, redesign work tasks, workstations, tools and equipment to reduce/eliminate causes of industrial injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis.

The pair contends that ergonomics should not be a government regulation, stressing that in order for employers to implement successful industrial injury prevention programs, they need the flexibility to tailor those programs to fit their individual and highly specific needs.

Brough and Chong point to their respective companies’ success in working with employers who voluntarily utilize their services to reduce occupational injuries. Both firms count government agencies, universities and Fortune 500 companies across the country as clients that have reduced injuries and saved money after implementing custom designed ergonomics and programs.

This approach is supported by the federal Labor Department, which has said, “good training and voluntary guidelines – not stringent regulations – are the best ways to reduce workplace injuries caused by repetitive-motion stress.”

Most other states are using the approach adopted by federal workplace regulators, who prefer voluntary ergonomic guidelines, while reserving regulatory actions for uncooperative companies. In fact, U.S. Congress repealed federal ergonomics standards in 2001 in favor of the voluntary guidelines approach.