A report released in September by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has the unusual title of “OSHA Should Take Steps to Better Identify and Address Ergonomic Hazards at Warehouses and Delivery Companies.“
The reason for this concern is the continual uptick in e-commerce retail sales which requires an increase in the pace of warehouse work. These working conditions are leading to more injuries. The most common injuries are from overexertion such as working while fatigued or moving unsafely while lifting or bending. This can cause musculoskeletal disorders, such as tendonitis or back pain.
The transportation and warehousing sector (which includes e-commerce warehouses and last-mile delivery) had the highest serious injury and illness rate of all 19 sectors in 2022, with an estimated 3.8 cases per 100 workers, according to BLS data.
While OSHA has been increasing its efforts to address this, the General Accounting Office feels that they could do better.
The report notes that OSHA cited warehouse and last-mile delivery employers for more than 2,500 workplace violations from fiscal years 2018 through 2023,. Among these violation were 11 for ergonomic hazards. The reason for this low rate of citations in ergonomics is because OSHA does not have an ergonomic standard. It must use the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to cite these hazards.
The agency says that general duty clause citations require a high level of evidence that can make issuing them a challenge. Furthermore, OSHA staff described other challenges to identifying, assessing, and addressing ergonomic hazards, including compliance officers (1) having difficulty determining if ergonomic hazards caused injuries reported on forms, (2) receiving little training on ergonomic hazards, and (3) relying on unclear ergonomic guidance.
In fiscal year 2024, OSHA implemented an inspection program to better protect workers from hazards at warehouses and other worksites, including general warehouses and last-mile delivery companies. The program requires compliance officers to determine if ergonomic hazards exist and, if so, to take appropriate enforcement action.
This report is the result of the GAO being asked to review how technology affects worker safety at e-commerce warehouses and last-mile delivery companies. This report examines the types and causes of injuries at these workplaces, and the extent to which OSHA identifies and addresses ergonomic hazards, among other objectives.
Here are the agency’s recommendations:
---The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health ensures that OSHA compliance officers can easily obtain data during inspections on when musculoskeletal disorders occurred. This could include adding a column for musculoskeletal injuries to OSHA recordkeeping forms.
---The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health increases training on identifying and assessing ergonomic hazards for compliance officers who inspect worksites under OSHA's National Warehouse and Distribution Center Emphasis Program. This may include making elective ergonomic courses required courses for some officers; adding new courses or ergonomic components to existing courses; or making existing courses more accessible, for example, by increasing their frequency or offering them online.
---The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health review and make needed changes to OSHA's internal and publicly available guidance that compliance officers and employers use to identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards. This may include clarifying existing guidance and providing more current, industry-specific guidance.
---The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health conducts timely follow-up with establishments that were issued an ergonomic hazard alert letter, as required by OSHA policy, to determine if establishments have taken corrective actions. This may include regional offices developing formal procedures for tracking ergonomic hazard alert letter.
---The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health: (1) formally evaluates how well OSHA's national emphasis program for warehouses and distribution centers helps compliance officers identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards; and (2) determines and documents next steps to correct any deficiencies detected.