Objective
To establish a fair and transparent process for developing industry and task
specific guidelines that will assist employers and employees in recognizing and
controlling potential ergonomic hazards.1
Description
Each set of guidelines will address a particular industry or task. The industry
and task specific guidelines will generally be presented in three major parts:
Program management recommendations for management practices addressing
ergonomic hazards in the industry or task;
- Worksite analysis recommendations for worksite/workstation analysis techniques
geared to the specific operations that are present in the industry or task; and
- Hazard control recommendations that contain descriptions of specific jobs and
that detail the hazards associated with the operation, possible approaches to
controlling the hazard, and the effectiveness of each control approach.
The scope, form, and content of the sets of guidelines will vary because the
types of ergonomic hazards, injuries, and controls vary from industry to
industry and task to task.
Information Gathering
Prior to developing an industry or task specific guideline, OSHA will review
existing practices and programs, as well as available scientific information
regarding ergonomic hazards and control methods, for the particular industry or
task. The sources of this information will include trade associations,
professional associations, labor organizations, the medical community, and
individual firms. In addition, information will be obtained from the literature,
OSHA's records, and settlement agreements.
Analysis
In assessing the assembled practices and programs and developing the guidelines,
OSHA will consider factors such as the following:
- the extent to which the programs? provisions address the ergonomic hazards
in the industry or task and are specific to the prevalent conditions in the
industry or task;
- the extent to which the programs? provisions address the specific control
methods that are available for the ergonomic hazards present in the industry or
task;
- the extent to which the programs? provisions include a mechanism for
reporting injuries, symptoms, and hazards which may be related to ergonomics in
the workplace, and for responding to such reports;
- the extent to which the programs? provisions reflect a process for
evaluating the nature and causes of injuries which may be related to ergonomics
in the workplace and a process for identifying, implementing, and evaluating
measures to reduce injuries; and
- the extent to which quantitative data or other information are available
demonstrating the program's provisions are effective in reducing the number and
severity of workplace injuries related to ergonomics or the number of ergonomic
hazards.
Public Participation
The public will be involved at several points in the guideline development
process. During the initial drafting of a guideline, one-on-one meetings with
representatives of major stakeholder groups will be conducted. The purpose of
these meetings will be to gather the best available information on the hazards
that are present in typical operations and on practices, programs, and processes
that have been successfully used in the particular industry or for specific
tasks. In addition, OSHA will ask for information and clarification regarding
programs that these groups have developed.
OSHA will publish a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of each
draft guideline on OSHA's website. The public will be invited in the Federal
Register notice to submit written comments within 30 days and to participate in
a stakeholder meeting. The stakeholder meeting will be conducted if the public
expresses sufficient interest. OSHA will provide a facilitator for this meeting
and will prepare meeting minutes to be posted on OSHA's website.
Comments from stakeholders will be reviewed and considered by the Agency. Once
finalized, each set of guidelines will be posted on OSHA's website and issued in
a paper format.
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1 This Protocol is intended to guide OSHA's development of industry and task
specific guidelines. OSHA may amend this Protocol in the future as it continues
to gain experience with the guideline development process.
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