
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507060013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

OSHA TO DELAY RULING ON REPETITIVE INJURIES

The Clinton administration, bowing to pressure from Congress, will delay issuing regulations on repetitive strain injuries that affect hundreds of thousands of workers each year.

Labor Department officials said Monday that proposed rules were insufficient to handle the problem and would not be issued.

``OSHA will also use its resources to support education, training, consultation and enforcement activities to address this workplace epidemic,'' Joseph A. Dear, assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, said in a statement

Repetitive strain affects more than 700,000 workers a year and account for $1 of every $3 spent on workers compensation, OSHA said.

The agency released draft rules in March that were far less demanding on employers and covered two-thirds fewer businesses than a blueprint developed last year.

But the mood in Congress has been to reduce government regulation, and some Republican lawmakers were unhappy that OSHA continued working on the proposed rules as Congress tried to impose a moratorium on federal regulations.

by CNB