Several regional OSHA offices recently announced programs targeting ergonomic hazards in hospitals. The programs are likely to involve inspections of hospitals in numerous different states to determine the extent to which employers are eliminating ergonomic hazards in those workplaces. The affected states are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. Hospitals face a challenge in addressing ergonomic hazards because OSHA has never issued ergonomics guidelines for hospitals Although in 2001 OSHA released a comprehensive ergonomics standard, Congress halted the implementation of those standards in part because there was too little consensus regarding appropriate methods of reducing ergonomic hazards. Some guidance is provided to hospitals, however, in OSHA's recently released ergonomics guidelines for nursing homes. These guidelines focus on avoiding injuries in the handling of residents/patients. They advocate that employers develop programs to identify and reduce lifting hazards, implement the programs, and train employees on the programs. It is likely that OSHA will use these guidelines as a reference when inspecting patient handling in hospitals. Other ergonomic hazards, however, will likely be addressed under OSHA's "general duty" clause, which broadly requires employers to eliminate "recognized" hazards, even if there are no specific OSHA guidelines addressing those hazards.
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