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"This document was published prior to the publication of OSHA's final rule on Ergonomics Program (29 CFR 1910.900, November 14, 2000), and therefore does not necessarily address or reflect the provisions set forth in the final standard."

News Release USDL 97-442
Wednesday, December 10, 1997
Contact: Frank Kane (202) 219-8151

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced tentative dates and locations for six more regional conferences on ergonomics in 1998.

The regional conferences, Effective Practices in Ergonomics, focus on ways to combat repetitive stress injuries, one of the fastest growing and most costly threats to worker health. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 1995, the most recent year for which data were available, 62 percent of workplace illnesses -- more than 300,000 -- were disorders associated with repetitive stress.

Ergonomic and related disorders represent the largest group of preventable job injuries and illnesses in the United States, said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Charles N. Jeffress. We must work together to reduce musculoskeletal disorders that result from such hazards. These conferences take a practical, problem-solving approach to reduction of ergonomic hazards in the workplace.

The conferences will enable workers, unions, employers, trade and professional associations, academics and government to share information about useful and productive solutions that reduce exposures to ergonomic hazards in the workplace.

Tentative dates and locations for the conferences, which are being coordinated by OSHA Training Institute Education Centers, are:

• March 3 - San Diego, CA
  Region Nine (American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii and Nevada)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-358-9206

• March 19 - Manchester, NH
  Region One (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-449-6742

• April 14 - San Antonio, TX
  Region Six (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-723-3811

• May 19 - Kansas City, M0
  Region Seven (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-841-7158.

• June 4 - Denver, CO
  Region Eight (Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-933-8394.

• Sept. 10 - Atlanta, GA
  Region Four (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee)
  Education Coordinator: 1-800-653-3629.

Conferences will be scheduled later for Region Three (District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia) and Region Ten (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington).

The conferences are designed specifically for small to mid-size businesses and will promote the use of ergonomic principles to improve worker safety, health, quality and productivity. The conferences will focus on lessons learned from successful workplace ergonomic programs and will encourage the exchange of ergonomic program experience and knowledge among the participants.

Conferences were held Sept. 17, 1997, in Lockport, N.Y., for Region Two (New Jersey, New York and Puerto Rico) and Oct. 30, 1997, in Chicago, Ill., for Region Five (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin)