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"The union for the information age"

 Testimony of Henry J. Holcomb

President, Local 38010

The Newspaper Guild

of the Communications Workers of America

AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labour Congress

1329 Buttonwood Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123

hholcomb@aol.com

Telephone: 215 928-0118

United States Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

 Hearing on ergonomic standards

 to prevent repetitive strain injuries

u.s. Department of Labor Auditorium, Washington, D.C.

 31 March 2000

  For the record, I am Henry J. Holcomb.  I appear on behalf of myself, a citizen of the City and County of Philadelphia, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  I also appear on behalf of the 1,700-member Local 38010 of the Newspaper Guild of the Communications Workers of America, of which I am president.  This local union has collective bargaining agreements with five Philadelphia area newspapers -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Delaware County Times, Pottstown Mercury and Norristown Times Herald.

I have been a fulltime daily newspaper writer or editor since 1963.

 My direct involvement with repetitive strain injuries began in 1987, when I was assistant to Gene Roberts, then the executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Mr. Roberts was also president of The Inquirer's  publisher, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Knight Ridder Inc., the nation's second largest newspaper publishing company.  My job was to manage a wide variety of special projects for Mr. Roberts including design of suburban newsrooms that were the first built around computers.  Computers had been previously installed, without much thought, in newsrooms built long before the word ergonomics was coined.

 Mr. Roberts, who later became managing editor of The New York Times, gave me my first assignment related specifically to repetitive strain injuries. This came in response to an injury to one of our star reporters. While on an important out-of- town assignment that she cherished, she had to be brought home because she was in such pain she could not turn the doorknob in her hotel room.

 Mr. Roberts explained what had happened to this reporter and others and declared: "Our best people are getting hurt.  Get with Anne Burke and figure out what we need to do, and get back to me."

 Anne Burke, R.N., was the company's long-time medical director, who had achieved a distinguished reputation in the area of occupational health and safety.  Thanks to her, for example, many of those who operate the presses of our newspaper, in an incredibly noisy environment, still have their hearing.

 Ms. Burke -- and those who have worked with her at Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publishers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News -- have been extraordinarily successful. The commitment of Mr. Roberts to "do something about RSI" has continued.  Though Ms. Burke has officially retired, the company has retained her as its RSI consultant.  She comes in one day a week and works with everyone who presents symptoms, buying new chairs, wrist braces, computer keyboards, and other such equipment, coaching them on good posture and adjusting their work stations. The current editor of The Inquirer, Mr. Robert J. Rosenthal, is as deeply committed as Mr. Roberts was to protecting our people from pain and diminished capacity.

 The strategy at the Inquirer and Daily news was two-fold.  It intervened promptly when there were reports of pain to prevent future injury.  The company, fore example, kept a stock of adjustable computer tables and ergonomic chairs so it could respond promptly whenever a staff member presented symptoms.  It also made certain that future furniture purchases met ergonomic safety standards that would minimize the risk of future injuries.

 As a result of this long-term recognition that RSI is a real problem, these two newspapers have kept hundreds of talented people from being sidelined.  Even though a third of the company's employees have suffered painful injuries, we have lost only a two to long-term disabilities.

 This hasn't been easy.

 I was chairman of the Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. Repetitive Strain Injury Task Force during a critical period of this work.  And I was the executive editor of the RSI training video produced for our parent company, in cooperation with the Newspaper Guild Local 1O.  (A copy of that video has been provided for your record).  But though I speak favorably about what the company has done -- and from expertise gained from my work on its behalf -- I have not cleared these remarks with the company. So I am now speaking only for myself and the union local, of which I am president.

 Our members work in the editorial, advertising, circulation, advertising, finance and in administration.

 Preventing injuries was not then and still is not easy because:

 1. The computer hardware and software providers were and are now focused on what their products can do and not on human factors engineering related to those who use their products.

 2. The furniture industry was unaware of ergonomics issues when I began my work on RSI prevention. Now it is exploiting ergonomic concerns to sell more expensive products, driving up the cost of needed changes, rather than demonstrating a total commitment to making every product it produces truly safe for those who use them.

 3. The medical profession still hasn't gotten out of its offices and into where our people work to study why they are getting hurt.  Members of my union, who are among the star performers at our newspapers, still report to me that they have gone to doctors in real pain only to have these doctors suggest to them that RSI is a politically correct cover for malingering. Others have reported that their doctors have prescribed wearing braces without giving them instructions on how long it is safe to wear these devices.  This bothers me because the doctors who have produced the best results for our members have warned that wearing the braces for too long a period of time can cause permanent harm.

 4. Accounting systems have unintentionally created problems.  Properly equipping an entire computer workstation often involves an amount of money that requires a much higher level of corporate approval than just buying a computer. So computers have been bought and, in cases I personally observed, placed on such makeshift things as upside-down trashcans that required most unsafe posture for those who use them.

 Why do I think the computer industry is still focused on what's inside its boxes and not on the people who use them? Among other things, I see evidence of this as I visit a dozen or more offices at Philadelphia area companies each month.  And the new publishing system our newspapers are implementing requires a massive increase in the number of keystrokes and mouse movements.

 The old system could be turned off with three keystrokes.  This one requires logging off at least four separate programs, each of which requires multiple keystrokes. This is typical of every task we perform.  In addition, it was not designed around the way we were accustomed to working or our long-established vocabulary. So the stress of using it is much higher than before.  And people whose bodies are tightened by stress seem to be more susceptible to repetitive strain injuries. Since this new computer system was introduced, we have had a dramatic increase in repetitive strain injuries. I do not have access to the precise numbers, but I can tell from observing the number of colleagues I see wearing various types of braces that fully a quarter of our staff has experienced pain from this new system.

 They were driven to produce a product at a low enough cost that would get the business.  Since there was no ergonomic standard to level the playing field, ergonomic issues weren't given enough attention in the design phase.

 The United States needs to apply good science to work on national standards for designing and maintaining:

 1. Furniture that will liberate the most creative designers to do their work without hurting those who will use their products.  We need standards that will prevent them from cutting comers or adding dangerous gimmicks to win a contract.

 2. Ergonomic standards for computers and software that address issues such as keyboard and mouse design, the number of keystrokes and mouse movements, and glare that could lead to risky posture.

 3. Training programs for the users of computers that make them aware of safe practices at work as well as how to care for themselves in their other activities to avoid putting their livelihood at risk.

 4. Making sure the health care providers stay up to date on repetitive strain injuries so they will recognize how vulnerable complex body parts like the hand truly are to the proliferation of work tools and recreational games.  These products are putting unprecedented stresses on our hands, arms, necks and backs.

 5. Understanding the relationship of various body defects and ailments to repetitive strain injuries, and developing specific preventive strategies and remedies for each one.  I could cite a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests a relationship between various conditions and RSI. Suffice it to say there's something worth exploring in this regard.

 6. Technology, including but not limited to, voice activated computers to help those who are hurt keep on working.

 The potential cost of inaction is great.  The cost of a single case of surgery to correct repetitive strain injuries can be more than properly outfitting most offices.  This is in addition to lost productivity due to pain and suffering.

 Finally, when I was chairman of my employer's RSI task force, a vendor tried to sell me service it said would let us avoid hiring people with a high RSI risk.  Such screening is, of course, discriminatory. It would be dangerous because it would also lessen pressure on companies to create a safe working environment. It would reduce the likelihood that they would make purchases and develop practices that would reduce the risk of hurting people. And this would lead to an imprudent and immoral waste of our nation's human spirit and talent.

 Thank you for the opportunity to present these concerns.