Senate organizing activities and elections are scheduled for December. The House and Senate approved and sent to the President for his expected signature a bill to fund the D.C. government for FY 2001. The compromise bill was allowed to move forward in the face of a last minute plea from Mayor Anthony Williams who said that without its adoption dire emergencies would be experienced by the city. However, angry reactions from Republicans in Congress and from the Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers signal that a legislative battle over the implementation of the standard may be ahead. Just prior to the election, opposition to the ergonomics standard caused Republican leaders to blow up an agreement that had been reached with the White House and congressional Democrats over the large appropriations bill funding programs operated by Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments.
Ergonomic hazards are the number one workplace safety and health problem.
Despite evidence that ergonomic programs reduce injuries to workers, reduce workers' compensation costs, improve productivity and result in overall cost savings for employers, certain segments of the business community continue to wage a campaign to block the standard. The new law will take effect July 2001. Each year an estimated 1,000 health care workers become infected with a serious bloodborne disease, including hepatitis and HIV, as the result of pricks and punctures from contaminated devices. Prompted by the large number of injuries as well as the technological advances in the engineering of medical devices, OSHA, last year, began to enforce a requirement that employers use safety-designed devices. While the new law does not take effect for nine months, employers covered by OSHA already have a legal obligation to use safer needles and sharps.