ABSTRACT
In 2002, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao presented the four-pronged approach of the Occu-
pational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ergonomics. One of these components was
an emphasis on enforcement — continued use of the General Duty Clause to issue citations relative
to ergonomic hazards. The second was outreach and assistance to help business proactively address
ergonomics in their workplaces. The third component of this approach was to develop a National
Advisory Committee that was to be focused on the research and science of ergonomics, helping to
identify gaps in our knowledge. The final component of this four-pronged approach was the devel-
opment of ergonomics guidelines for specific industries. Initially, these guidelines were to be devel-
oped by OSHA in conjunction with the industry for which they were developed. To date, three
guidelines have been developed with this model: one for the nursing home industry (OSHA,
2003), one for the poultry processing industry (OSHA, 2004a), and one for retail grocery stores
(OSHA, 2004b). OSHA has also indicated that a draft guideline for the shipyard industry is in devel-
opment. In addition to these OSHA-developed guidelines, OSHA also encouraged other industries to
develop their own industry-specific guidelines and it is this opportunity that the furniture manufac-
turing industry has pursued.
