OSHA said it is dedicated to protecting Hispanic and other immigrant workers through a combination of industry-targeted guidelines, tough enforcement measures, workplace outreach and advanced research.

At a press conference, John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, said the four-part plan is set to begin "immediately." However, he said OSHA still has not identified the industries for which it will write the voluntary guidelines, and has no guidelines written as yet.

In a press release, OSHA said it expects to begin releasing guidelines for application in selected industries some time this year, and will encourage other businesses and industries to immediately develop additional guidelines of their own.

John Savercool, vice president of federal affairs for the American Insurance Association in Washington, D.C., said the new ergonomics guidelines are "reasonable, and we believe they will be effective in reducing ergonomics injuries in the future."

He continued that, "Most importantly to property and casualty insurers, they do not contain the specific compensation mandates that were at the heart of AIA's opposition to the original OSHA ergonomics rule."

The action by the Labor Department, he said, was necessitated by the Clinton administration's "over-reach on its ergonomics rule and by subjecting the decade-old state workers' compensation program to broad federal mandates."

This same over-reach, he added, "led to the rule's rejection by Congress in early 2001."

The Alliance of American Insurers, based in Downers Grove, Ill., also praised the ergonomics program, saying that it believes OSHA's approach to ergonomics "sets the stage for achieving meaningful reductions in ergonomics-related injuries."

The Alliance reacted favorably to OSHA's plans to employ a variety of non-regulatory programs including grants, Web outreach, best practices and a mentorship program to improve workplace ergonomics.

"American workers will be best served by an approach which stresses results in the workplace?rather than regulations and reports," said David Farmer, Alliance senior vice president of federal affairs. "Insurers and their business partners have long been active in improving workplace safety, including ergonomics, " he commented

Mr. Farmer said that given the significant uncertainties surrounding ergonomics, "OSHA is correctly placing the emphasis on tools that will make a tangible difference to peoples' lives."

OSHA's Mr. Henshaw said the organization has sufficient personnel to handle the targeted enforcement effort, and he stressed that training will be given to OSHA staff on ergonomic workplace hazards.

The outreach efforts, he said, will not be confined to the Internet. Those efforts will be at a "grassroots" level, employed with "good old-fashioned shoe leather."

He also stressed that OSHA's efforts must not be delayed "just because some may think there isn't enough science about muscular-skeletal injuries and the workplace."

For the first time, he said, OSHA will have an enforcement plan designed from the start to target prosecutable ergonomic violations.

Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao explained that OSHA's goal is to "help workers by reducing ergonomic injuries in the shortest possible time frame."

The plan, she said, is a "major improvement over the rejected old rule" because it will prevent ergonomics injuries before they occur and reach a much larger number of at-risk workers.

The department said its ergonomics enforcement plan will crack down on "bad actors" by coordinating inspections with a legal strategy designed for successful prosecution.

The department also said it will place special emphasis on industries with the sorts of serious ergonomics problems that OSHA and Department of Labor attorneys have successfully addressed in prior cases.

E.E. Mazier contributed to this article.