Status of California’s “Ergonomics” Regulation
California Code of Regulations
Title 8-Section 5110, Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMIs)
In order to provide current information on the status of California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5110 pertaining to Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMIs), we are providing the following summary of its history and are posting recent court documents at this site as they become available.
Section 5110 initially was adopted by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board, approved by the Office of Administrative Law and became effective on July 3, 1997. The standard was then subject to legal challenges brought in Sacramento Superior Court. Judge James T. Ford heard the case and issued a judgment and peremptory writ of mandate on October 16, 1997, in which he invalidated various sections of the regulation.
The Standards Board appealed those orders to the Third District Court of Appeal. On September 27, 1999, the Court of Appeal heard the case and on October 29, 1999 the court issued an opinion reversing the superior court’s judgment. In it’s opinion, the Court of Appeal directed the superior court to issue a new judgment in accordance with the instructions contained in its final opinion, a copy of which is attached.
On March 15, 2000 the superior court issued the new judgement and a modified peremptory writ of mandate. In response to the court’s instructions, the Standards Board filed a revision to Section 5110 with the OAL that removes the exemption for ‘employers with 9 or fewer employees’ from the current scope of and application of the standard. On April 28, 2000 OAL approved the court ordered revision and it was filed with the Secretary of State to be effective that day.
Last revision 5/2/00