If you or someone you love lives with repetitive strain injuries, then you know how very real and painful it is. It disturbs me that Bush's appointment to head up the Labor Department is so callous on this topic. Son of Antonin Scalia, Eugene Scalia (nepotism, anyone?), has called RSI "junk science," "quackery," and "strange." Before heading up the Labor Department, little Scalia represented management in anti-ergonomics cases. [via sotd]
Ergonomics programs reduce health care costs. And they aren't expensive to implement compared with the costs of treating injuries. But that would mean less money for the health care industry. (Not to mention happier, healthier, more productive employees.) A proposed OSHA ergonomics standard for computer workers was recently defeated in Washington. What now? OSHA ergonomics architect David Cochran (from my alma mater) speculates in the SF Bay Guardian. With this appointment, it doesn't look good for workers. Heartless.