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CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

NIOSH Testimony to OSHA
Comments on the Proposed Ergonomics Program

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NIOSH Testimony to OSHA
Comments on the Proposed Ergonomics Program

29 CFR Part 1910 Docket No. S–777

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

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Ordering Information
To receive documents or more information about occupational safety and health topics, contact the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at NIOSH—Publications Dissemination 4676 Columbia Parkway Cincinnati, OH 45226–1998 Telephone: 1–800–35–NIOSH (1–800–356–4674) …ver más…

Our research has consistently found that the rates of these disorders are higher in heavily exposed workers, such as those in meatpacking, grocery-store checking, newspaper editing, and warehousing, compared to those with lower exposure.

MSDs represent a wide range of disorders, which if not treated can often become severe, chronic, and debilitating. OSHA has appropriately focused on the MSDs that are the most serious in terms of their adverse consequences.

Magnitude of the Problem
The only source of national information on the magnitude of work-related MSDs is the Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses conducted by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). BLS has conducted this annual survey for more than 25 years, and it has provided information on the annual cases of occupational injury or illness that required medical treatment, restricted work activity, or days away from work, for each year since 1972. 2

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The preamble includes an overall assessment of risk based on an analysis of cases of MSD-like injuries routinely reported to the BLS. In this analysis, OSHA identified cause-specific injuries and illnesses in the BLS data that included work-related MSDs, finally selecting six categories:

§ sprains, strains, and tears § back pain, hurt back § soreness, hurt, except back