LANSING – Michigan officials could not adopt rules setting new ergonomic standards under a bill passed on a 20-16, straight party-line vote by the Senate Thursday that signaled a doubtful future for the legislation.

Supporters, all Republican, of SB 93 said the measure would prevent business in the state from having to shoulder as much as an estimated $500 million in additional costs if an ergonomic standard is approved.

But opponents, all Democrats, charged the bill was premature, since rules are still in the discussion stage and the draft rules development thus far have included business executives along with labor officials and others.

The measure goes to the House where its future is at best uncertain, given the large Democratic majority in the chamber.

The bill’s goal is to short-circuit the possibility of rules setting ergonomic standards being adopted by the state. The effort to draft such rules has been underway by more than six years, and has undergone some 17 drafts. Rules have not yet been implemented, however, and business groups have raised alarms about the possibility of the rules coming into place.

The rules are designed to help prevent such injuries as repetitive motion problems that affected office workers as computerization has increased in the workplace.

Sen. Alan Sanborn (R-Richmond) said the goal of the bill was not to increase the number of workplace injuries (in fact, he said in recent years, the number of workplace injuries had fallen in the state by better than 40 percent) but to “not further injure Michigan’s crippled economy.”

And Sen. Jud Gilbert (R-Algonac) said allowing new ergonomic standards would add to the complaints businesses already have with the state when they complain about “sky-high taxes.”

But Sen. Gilda Jacobs (D-Huntington Woods) said businesses have had input into the proposed rules and that the proposed rules were “a very conservative effort to protect workers.” Enacting a ban on the rules was going down the wrong road on the issue, she said.

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