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DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. -- As public debate continues over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's interpretive letter on telecommuting, the Alliance of American Insurers hopes the agency will assure all stakeholders in the debate that it intends to mix its aggressiveness in pursuing workplace safety with an equal level of reasonableness.

"The controversy surrounding OSHA's interpretative letter regarding telecommuting raises three points, particularly when viewed in parallel with OSHA's ergonomics proposal," said Keith Lessner, vice president of safety and environmental for the Alliance.

"If we step back and take a look at the big picture, we first see that OSHA is serious about advancing a vigorous safety enforcement approach, and that's a good thing," he said. "OSHA's aggressiveness in advancing a strong enforcement policy is causing all stakeholders in this debate to think more carefully about workplace safety public policy. We hope this will ultimately result in a better public policy that is more in line with everyone's best long-term interests.

"Second, when we look at the distinction between promoting injury prevention and paying for injuries, we see some broader issues than just OSHA or its telecommuting interpretation or its ergonomics proposal," Lessner pointed out. "From the perspective of the insurance industry, some of these issues, such as causation, are very important. We believe it is critical to look beyond this interpretation or the ergonomics rule to the much bigger picture at issue, and that is how best to ensure a safe environment for workers without excessive costs and regulatory burdens for the employer community.

"The latest flash points in the news-whether the telecommuting interpretation or the ergonomics rule-create a growing awareness of the broader liabilities involved, but do not cause the disputes," Lessner continued. "These liability disputes would ultimately exist without these rules."

The third key element in this debate, from the Alliance's point of view, is how important "reasonableness" is to OSHA's approach to enforcement. "Few object to OSHA's mission in promoting workplace safety," Lessner said, "yet there remains a considerable amount of concern about how reasonable OSHA has been and will be in fulfilling its mission. At the Alliance of American Insurers, we believe that OSHA needs a new paradigm that imbues all stakeholders with confidence that the agency will be just as reasonable as it is aggressive in ensuring a safe workplace for every American worker."