This has to be good news for HENL! If and when they get the FDA approval. Other than that the last earnings report looked pretty healthy in and of itself. I'm thinking of getting into the stock very soon.This article was front page CNN stating that the federal government is proposing...
--
Employers would have to
correct injury-causing
workplace conditions that
require repetitive motion,
overexertion or awkward
posture under proposed regulations the Labor Department
was announcing Monday.
The proposal would affect about 1.9 million work sites --
one of every three -- and more than 27 million workers.
Each year, 1.8 million workers have musculoskeletal
injuries related to ergonomic factors and 600,000 people
miss some work because of them, according to the
department's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.
The injuries to muscles, nerves, ligaments and tendons
include such problems as carpal tunnel syndrome, back
pain and tendinitis.
"Work-related musculoskeletal disorders such as back
injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome are the most
prevalent, most expensive and most preventable
workplace injuries in the country," said Labor Secretary
Alexis Herman.
"Real people are suffering real injuries that can disable
their bodies and destroy their lives," she added. "The
good news is that real solutions are available."
The new rules would cover a broad range of workers
from nurses aides who must lift heavy patients, to baggage
handlers at airports and people who work at computers or
on assembly lines.
Under the rules, a worker who has an ergonomic injury
diagnosed by a doctor would be entitled to have the work
environment fixed to relieve the cause -- by changing the
height of an assembly line or computer keyboard, for
example.
At workplaces with numerous incidents of ergonomic
injury, employers would have to provide medical help
and safety retraining for workers in addition to fixing
physical problems.
In addition, the rule would require companies with
workers who do manual heavy lifting to provide
preventive training.
The proposed rules would not become final until next year
at the earliest, after a public comment period.
They have already been long delayed by opposition from
business groups and some lawmakers who are concerned
about the cost and have protested that there is not enough
scientific evidence proving that ergonomic problems at
work cause injury.
OSHA estimated that employers who need to correct
problems will spend an average of $150 a year per work
station fixed. The total cost was estimated at $4.2 billion
a year.
The Labor Department estimates the new rules could
prevent injury to about 300,000 workers annually and
save the U.S. economy $9 billion.
Ergonomic injuries currently cost $15 billion to $20
billion annually for workers' compensation and $30
billion to $40 billion in other expenses such as medical
care, the agency said. |
