Bureaucrats within the Michigan Occupational and Safety Administration (MIOSHA) have for some time been working on new ergonomic mandates to reduce muscular-skeletal disorders, like carpal tunnel, back pain, etc., associated with the workplace. Should these new rules go into effect, it could cost Michigan businesses an additional $500 million.
The proposed regulations not only pose a threat to business retention, expansion and attraction, but may be wholly unnecessary. National and state statistics show a sharp decline in workplace injuries and illness. Workplace safety has improved so much in Michigan, that last year the state reduced worker compensation premiums.
So why would a state that's hemorrhaging jobs and has one the the highest unemployment rates in the country make rules that are more stringent then anyone else's? Because big labor controls the Granholm administration and the Democrat party.
Although they won't, the Michigan House should concur with legislation already passed by the Republican-led Senate that forbids the adoption of workplace safety standards that go further than federal requirements.
