This week, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is kicking off an ergonomics rule development process—the first under new laws passed last year by the Washington State Legislature—to increase protections for workers susceptible to WMSDs. Airline ground crews will be the first industry for rulemaking under the new laws.

With L&I’s filing this week of its intent to adopt rules on this issue, the agency is starting the rulemaking process to gather input on specific issues, concerns, and best practices from industry employers and employees, along with other airline ground crews stakeholders.

L&I will also gather broad input on components of ergonomic rules that could be consistent across all industry rules, as this is the first industry rulemaking under the new law.

In addition, L&I is creating an advisory committee made up of business and labor representatives from the scheduled airline industry. The earliest the new rules can take is effect is July 1, 2026.

Last year, the Washington State Legislature passed a law allowing L&I to adopt rules, for no more than one industry per year, if an industry has workers compensation claims for WMSDs at least two times the overall state rate over a five-year period. L&I reviewed the data and selected Scheduled Airline – Ground Crews, risk class 6802 as the first industry to focus on. Risk classes are the method used to group employers with similar hazards under Washington’s workers’ compensation system.

For more about the rulemaking process, including information on stakeholder meetings and frequently asked questions, visit L&I’s ergonomics, scheduled airlines ground crew operations rulemaking webpage.