STATE BOARD ENDORSES ERGONOMIC RULES.

Byline: Cathleen Ferraro Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

The state's first ergonomic regulations were approved unanimously Thursday, ending a decade of deeply fractured debate over whether California workplaces need a law to eliminate numbing injuries caused by repetitive tasks.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted 7-0 in San Diego to adopt the regulations that have frustrated business and labor groups alike.

``We still think this isn't needed and that the regulations are flawed, (that they are) not based on any hard science,'' said Willie Washington, director of safety and health for the California Manufacturers Association in Sacramento.

Labor groups were just as unhappy about the regulations, expressing concerns that some workers won't be covered by the new law and that in other workplaces where the regulation does apply, two or more employees must first be injured before a company is required to take action.

``It's unprecedented that they've exempted some employers. Other standards don't do that. This is totally off the wall,'' said Tom Rankin, president of the California Labor Federation, with more than 1 million members statewide.

In 1993, the state's workers' compensation law was reformed, including a requirement that the occupational safety and health board create ergonomic standards to minimize repetitive motion injuries.

The new regulations have come as a result of escalating injuries in the workplace. Ten years ago, disorders associated with repeated trauma were scant while the most prevalent occupational disease was skin disorders.

Under the new ergonomic law, employers with nine or fewer workers are exempt entirely. Workplaces with 10 or more workers must start a training program on how to reduce repetitive disorders when two or more employees are injured under similar circumstances.