In 2001, Congress adopted a resolution rejecting the effort by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to adopt a wide-ranging standard under the rubric of “ergonomics.”  The standard was by far the most intrusive effort ever attempted by OSHA, incorporating provisions that would have required wholesale analysis of workplaces for ill-defined “ergonomic hazards” such as repetitive activity, awkward postures, excessive force, environmental conditions and psychosocial factors.  A grand experiment was envisioned, requiring employers to attempt to correct workplace “deficiencies” as defined by the above so-called “risk factors” and to modify workplaces so that employees would ...