HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

 WHEREAS, those engaged in public employment face a wide variety of occupational safety and health hazards that include the newly recognized hazards of assault and violence at work, blood-borne infectious diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis B, exposure to toxic chemical spills, occupational stress, asbestos in buildings, indoor air pollution, computer terminals (VDTs); and

WHEREAS, the National Safety Council reports that working for the government is twice as dangerous as construction work and three times more dangerous than for the private sector as a whole; and

WHEREAS, 20 years since passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA does not provide mandatory coverage for public employees, and only half the states have enacted their own laws to provide protection at least as effective as OSHA coverage; and

WHEREAS, the effectiveness of OSHA in its coverage of private sector and federal employees has diminished sharply since the advent of the Reagan administration; and

WHEREAS, public employees suffer a highly disproportionate rate of assault and violence at work from clients, patients and others, in many instances leading to murder, the leading cause of workplace death for women workers; and

WHEREAS, the problem of understaffing and working alone in dangerous situations is increasing in many public sector workplaces as management cuts back; and

WHEREAS, recognizing that a wide array of public employees¾including health care workers, public safety and emergency response personnel and others¾are at serious risk for occupational exposures to blood-borne infectious diseases¾with OSHA estimating that up to 18,000 health care workers contract and 300 die each year from such diseases¾PED affiliates petitioned OSHA for a blood-borne diseases standard in December 1986; and

WHEREAS, tens of thousands of public employees that work as highway and road crew workers, firefighters and as sewage and water treatment workers are frequently called upon to respond to chemical spill emergencies from truck accidents and to many other toxic chemical situations without proper training and equipment; and

WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) only requires asbestos abatement in elementary and secondary schools, and in spite of its own contention that 733,000 other public and commercial buildings contain potentially hazardous asbestos, the agency continues to delay making a final decision to act while under increasing pressure from a pending lawsuit filed by PED affiliates to regulate asbestos in these buildings; and

WHEREAS, indoor air pollution is a leading cause of respiratory illness, allergic reactions and needless discomfort in our nation's offices because of poorly maintained, contaminated or inadequately designed mechanical ventilation systems that result in an estimated productivity loss of more than $60 billion a year, according to an EPA report to Congress; and

WHEREAS, the introduction of VDTs in the workplace raises serious concerns as to their safety in terms of eyestrain, headaches, backaches, job stress, repetitive strain injuries and unresolved radiation concerns; and

WHEREAS, there is an alarming increase in the number of reported cases of occupational injuries related to automated equipment introduced in recent years by the United States Postal Service:

RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirm its belief that public employees can no longer be treated as second-class citizens regarding health and safety protection and urge Congress to pass the OSHA Reform Act of 1991, which includes as one of its provisions to provide public employees with the same health and safety legal rights as guaranteed other workers; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT support the need for increased funding to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct further research and provide training monies to educate workers about the risk and control of assault and violence at work; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT support continued funding by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to unions and other reputable nonprofit organizations to provide necessary chemical emergency awareness and response training to highway, road crew, fire fighters, and sewage and water treatment workers that encounter such hazards on the job; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT support efforts to have the administration enact regulations to require upfront inspections of all buildings for asbestos hazards to be abated in a safe and complete manner; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT endorse indoor air pollution legislation such as that introduced into the 102nd Congress by Sen. George Mitchell and Rep. Joseph Kennedy, which funds indoor air pollution research, and that the department support efforts to ensure safe and healthful air quality in the work place through union contract language, legislation or regulations setting basic minimum standards that would require adequate ventilation, regular inspection of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, filter changes as needed, and a measurement of biological, chemical and radon contamination; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT support promulgation by OSHA of an ergonomics standard as requested by a petition filed with the agency by a number of FPE affiliates to cover many of the hazards posed by computers (VDTs) and also support legislative proposals to provide adequate funds to research the effects of VDTs on workers and that the department support efforts to ensure the safe use of VDTs through union contract language, legislation or regulations setting basic minimum standards that require ergonomic design of VDT work stations, periodic equipment testing and maintenance, regular eye exams, regular work breaks, transfer rights for pregnant employees, and measures to reduce radiation emissions, and prohibit machine pacing or computer monitoring; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT urge OSHA to address the issue of understaffing as a health and safety hazard; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT declare every April 28 to be Workers' Memorial Day and to work with the AFL-CIO and affiliated unions to make the day a major event to remind the American public of the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and death; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT support strengthening the Clean Air Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and other legislation to protect the environment and [legislation] that will include strong worker protection and training programs covering public employees.