ANSI Board of Standards Review Rejects Appeal to Withdraw ANSI/ASSE A10.40 Standard
March 24, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Standards Review (BSR) rejected the appeal brought by the Construction Industry Employer Coalition to withdraw the adoption of the approved ANSI/American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) A10.40-2007 - Reduction of Musculoskeletal Problems in Construction, which aims to reduce musculoskeletal problems/disorders (MSDs) in the construction industry.
In 2006, the ANSI/ASSE A10.40 Committee, a subcommittee of the ANSI/ASSE A10 Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) on Construction and Demolition Operations, balloted the proposed standard to the A10 for approval.
Following the approval of the standard by the committee, the coalition then filed an appeal challenging the standard's adoption and a hearing was held on May 1, 2007 to hear the formal complaints.
On May 25, 2007, the appeals panel found unanimously that the appeal complaints were without merit and that the secretariat, the ASSE, complied with the ANSI due process requirements in developing the standard.
The standard was approved by ANSI BSR on July 23, 2007. Soon thereafter, the coalition noted its intent to appeal the BSR decision and did so on Nov. 9, 2007.
The ANSI BSR held the hearing for the appeal on Feb. 7, 2008. Pending the conclusion of any further appeals in this matter, the BSR determined that its original action to approve ANSI/ASSE A10.40-2007 as an ANSI standard stands.
The ANSI BSR denied the appeal on the grounds that insufficient evidence was provided by the coalition in support of its appeal to demonstrate that the ASC 10 Committee failed to obtain a consensus of materially affected interests with respect to the ANSI/ASSE A10.40-2007 standard, that the committee was unbalanced or dominated by one interest group, that the committee failed adequately to respond to comments or that any procedural requirements were violated or overlooked.
Some of the potential solutions in the standard aimed at reducing incidence of MSDs include:
- Risk elimination.
- Substitution.
- Use of engineering controls.
- Administrative changes.
- Training.
- Use of protective equipment.
- Assessment of individuals' physical capabilities.
The standard also mandates that construction workers and supervisors should be trained to recognize risk factors and ways to reduce the risk of MSDs through proper work techniques. Employee participation and an injury management program are also discussed in the standard.
ANSI/ASSE A10.40-2007 also includes a risk assessment guide, a construction MSD problem checklist, a return-to-work checklist, a list of resources, key terms and definitions and a list of nonoccupational risk factors associated with work-related MSDs such as age, strength and gender.
Source: American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).