Seven years ago, Trina Dunbar was the kind of computer programmer that software firms would have killed to have in their coding stable.
At 40, she was older than most of her contemporaries. But she worked the same, long, stressful hours as the rest of the programmers. And like the others, she loved her job.
"I was a hard worker," she said. "But unfortunately I loved it so much that I ruined my body doing it."
Dunbar's long days and nights at the computer led her to develop Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a repetitive-stress injury that can be caused by slouching forward in front of a computer for many hours, over a long period of time.
Her illness was so debilitating it forced her to "make a personal choice not to use computers again. And now I probably earn only 50 percent of what I used to make."
On Wednesday in Washington, the House of Representatives repealed workplace safety rules that sought to reduce just the sort of repetitive-stress injuries that Dunbar sustained during her years as a programmer.
The vote in the House followed Tuesday's Senate repeal of the ergonomics standards, which were set up four months ago by the Clinton administration. The Bush administration issued a statement on Tuesday saying that it would back a repeal of the rules.
Dunbar, who now leads an RSI support group in San Diego, expressed exasperation at Congress's repeal -- especially since she sees more and more tech workers coming to her with ergonomics-related injuries.
"I was in my forties when I had problems, but now there are people coming to me in their twenties, and most of them work at Internet companies -- long hours each day," she said.
Dunbar also said that she sees an increasing number of men with RSI, which indicates that the problem is spreading beyond the classic, secretarial-pool face of repetitive stress.
The Clinton workplace safety standards, would have -- among other rules -- required employers to ergonomically evaluate workers' environments and to hold ergo training sessions. Dunbar said that those are just the types of measures that need to be instituted to reduce such injuries.
"Basically, when I was injured, I didn't know anything about RSI," she said. Dunbar's doctor referred her to a physical therapist, "and they gave me some exercises to do and then sent me back to work. I never had any accommodations at all -- no reworking of my desk or anything. And within a short amount of time, I was completely disabled."
Dunbar's story is instructive. According to Peter Budnick, the CEO of an ergonomics consulting company called Ergoweb, many workers tend to develop hard-to-cure, debilitating repetitive injuries when their working environment doesn't quite "fit" their needs.
"Often, all it takes is a little education," Budnick said. "Little things, like changing your posture, or your desk. Sometimes it may require some more equipment -- but you don't want to get to the point that a worker is in pain, because that would cost a lot more money."
And the money seems to be what's important. One of the main reasons that Republicans offer for their repeal of the Clinton rules is the cost to businesses.
While the Occupational Safety & Health Administration estimated that the rules would cost businesses $4.5 billion to implement but would lead to a savings of $9 billion in reduced healthcare costs, Sen. Don Nickles (Rep-Okla.) said the price tag was more than $100 billion.
"It's probably the most expensive, intrusive regulation ever promulgated, certainly by the Department of Labor and maybe by the government entirely," Nickles said on Tuesday.
But Budnick insisted that implementing ergonomic safety doesn't have to be an expensive thing. And for tech businesses, he said, "it's common sense. You've got to protect your resources, and if your best resource is a programmer, and if that person becomes ill, you've got more problems."
Calls to various large software and hardware firms went unanswered on Wednesday.
There is some evidence, though, that businesses are taking the illnesses seriously. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the computer service industry -- which consists of programmers and data-entry personnel -- experienced a fast-growing rate of RSI between 1981 and 1995, rising to almost 27 injuries per 10,000 workers.
Since then, the number has fallen. In 1999, there were about nine injuries per 10,000 workers -- but that number was much more than any other type of illness.
Dunbar said that there are a number of ways workers can avoid becoming afflicted by RSI, including rearranging their desks to reduce strain.
But the best thing, she said, is to be proactive, and aware of the risks.
"I just went to see an Internet startup out here," she said. "They have 40 or 50 employees, and all of the furniture is leased. The only type of desks available are 30 inches high, and already three of the people have injuries. That's criminal!"
"People should know they can't do that to their bodies, because if you don't take care of your body, you're not going to be fit enough to do the job."
