WASHINGTON - A week after Congress repealed the OSHA workplace-safety rules, they are preparing to tell the Bush administration to rewrite them in a way that will please business lobbyists.

Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana has offered a proposal to require the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue revised rules to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries within two years.

Breaux's proposal says a new ergonomics rule shouldn't expand existing state workman's compensation laws, nor should it apply to injuries that occurred outside the workplace. It would require the Labor Department to tell businesses what steps they need to take before the rule takes effect.

The Clinton administration's rule would have required businesses to make workplace changes, including buying new safety equipment or rotating workers more frequently on assembly lines if their safety records show employees are suffering from repetitive motion injuries. They also would have required companies to provide partial pay to some workers who take time off to recover.

According to the Clinton administration, the rules would have prevented 460,000 worker injuries and saved $9.1 billion annually in health-related costs to worker and employers. Opponents of that version said they were too costly and ignored the fact that many corporations already have their own programs in place to protect workers.

OSHA has been studying ways to prevent injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome for 10 years.