The Occupational Safety and Health Administration perhaps bit off more than it can chew when it issued a warning that employers are responsible for the job-safety conditions in residences of employees who work in their own homes. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman received such an outcry of protest from business groups that she was forced to back down from any broad interpretation of the advisory.

• Herman now says the advisory was meant only as a guideline for CSC Credit Services, which asked in 1997 for information about home workplace rules -- adding that she only wants to "open a dialogue about the issue."

• Critics say that making employers responsible would force businesses to monitor employees' homes -- a costly undertaking that some consider an invasion of privacy.

• Rudy Lewis, president of the National Association of Home Based Businesses, said the advisory could mean "that if I have telecommuters working for me, I have to worry about whether their children have left a toy out where my employee may trip over it."

• Others warned that it could throw cold water on the burgeoning popularity of telecommuting from home.

OSHA insists that its advisory letter, posted on its website, is merely a restatement of existing policy -- not a change from current practice. Because the letter interprets existing rules, the agency avoided a lengthy rule-making procedure.

The agency says it won't conduct inspections of home worksites. But some critics point out that employers might be forced to undertake their own inspections.

Source: Sarah Lueck, "Business Groups Attack OSHA Advisory," Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2000.

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