Intensive case managers: Help PEF, researchers evaluate
your safety risks
Doing your job should not mean putting your life on the
line. If you are an intensive case manager at the state
Office of Mental Health, you should attend a special
focus group aimed at boosting your safety. These focus
groups are being held throughout the state.
As a follow-up to the 1996 murder of intensive case
manager (ICM) Judy Scanlon, PEF and the Civil Service
Employees Association are holding these focus groups in
collaboration with researchers at the University of
Maryland to find out how intensive case managers evaluate
their safety risks and how well they feel protective
measures are working.
After Scanlon, a PEF member and an intensive case manager
at the state Office of Mental Health in Buffalo, was
murdered by a patient during a home visit in 1996, PEF
filed a complaint with the state Labor Department.
 The
Labor Department’s Public Employee Safety and Health
(PESH) program cited OMH and ordered it to implement five
safety measures to help protect intensive case managers
on the job including: mandatory training; an
accountability system; safety protocols for home visits;
accompanied visits for patients with a history of
assaultive behavior; and a means to summons assistance.
The OMH Multi-Union Health and Safety Committee urged OMH
to send this information to all programs that employ
ICMs, so these protective measures would be implemented
statewide.
The University of Maryland’s research project
expects to document the ICMs perceptions of the risks,
their understanding of OMH and their agency’s
violence prevention policies, and attitudes toward the
effectiveness of the PESH-ordered safety measures. The
focus groups are also meant to increase workers’
awareness of safety issues.
“Focus groups provide richer information than a
survey can obtain,” said PEF Director of Safety and
Health Jonathan Rosen. “We want to hear directly
from ICMs about their experiences with workplace assault
and their perceptions of the effectiveness of current
violence prevention practices. Two highly informative
focus groups have already been held in Albany and
Manhattan. Four more are scheduled for this spring.”
Focus group information is confidential and there is no
OMH or local agency management participation. Only fellow
ICMs and two project staff from the University of
Maryland are present. Participation is voluntary.
Sessions to be
held downstate, Buffalo
All focus group
sessions begin at 6 p.m. They are scheduled for:
• April 16 — Manhattan PEF Office, 136 Church
St., 4th Floor. Register by April 9.
• April 24 — Bronx, NYC PEF Office, 136 Church
Street, 3rd floor Conference room. Register by April 17.
• May 1 — Long Island PEF Office, 1383-16
Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge. Register by April
24.
• June 12 — Buffalo PEF Office, 110 Pearl
Street, Dunn Building, 7th Floor. Register by June 5.
To join a group, please contact Shawn Bobb at
1-800-522-8700, ext 511.
Food and beverages are provided for these informal
sessions. Transportation and parking expenses will be
reimbursed.
DOH
members, managers well ahead in evacuation planning
By DEBORAH A. MILES
After the attack on the World Trade Center, members of
PEF Division 199 at the state Health Department worked
with managers to develop and implement an emergency
evacuation plan for their offices at 5 Penn Plaza in
Manhattan.
Council Leader Paul Stein, along with activists Alan
Levitt, Lewis Offsink and Lola Parks Guerra worked for
more than a year through their joint health and safety
committee to develop the plan, which has become a model
for agencies and activists throughout the state.
It’s unique for several reasons.
Communication
key
For instance, the DOH employees carry walkie-talkies
licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
— a tool usually restricted to security personnel
and firefighters.
“This is the only state-leased facility I know of
where the joint health and safety committee has arranged
for the walkie-talkies. PEF was the driving force behind
this. Now, when we evacuate, we can communicate with each
other to check on the progress of the evacuation and get
instructions,” Stein said.
“Because the 5 Penn Plaza plan has many innovative,
sound elements, such as the walkie-talkies, we are
distributing it as an example of a good program. More
than 325 PEF members statewide have reviewed the plan in
our training sessions,” said PEF Director of Health
and Safety Jonathan Rosen.
Another important feature of the plan is having a phone
number available for evacuated employees to call for
further instructions.
“In a real disaster situation where the environment
is unsafe, employees might disperse,” Stein said.
“But as a state worker, you are obligated to report
to work if you can. Our plan provides a phone number to
tell you what to do and where to go on the day of the
evacuation and afterward.”
The phone number is not local and is away from the office
location, because “in a real disaster, a local phone
number might not work,” Stein said. “Ideally,
the call should be to a toll-free number. PEF is still
trying to convince management to provide this.”
Evacuation chair can save lives
The plan also includes stair-evacuation chairs for those
who suffer mobility problems such as being in a
wheelchair, or relying on a walker or crutches. These
chairs are on tracks and allow the person to be lowered
safely down a staircase, without being lifted.
“When the World Trade Center was attacked, some
people were in wheelchairs. They were saved by co-workers
who lowered them down dozens of flights of stairs in
stair evacuation chairs.” Stein said.
"Unfortunately, there were several other
wheelchair-bound workers at the World Trade Center and
co-workers who stayed with them. They might be alive
today if they had stair evacuation chairs .”
The nearly 400 employees working at 5 Penn Plaza have
already had one evacuation drill. Their goal is to have
two drills per year, and they plan to practice with a
stair evacuation chair at their next drill.
“Many state buildings are multi-storied or
high-rises, but very few have stair-evacuation
chairs,” he said.
Rosen says members should be cautioned about the use of
evacuation chairs.
“The chairs have generated some controversy because
no standards have been established for their design or
use,” he said. “Any group considering their use
should compare various models and coordinate with the
local fire department professionals who would actually be
in charge of an evacuation.”
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COMMUNICATOR HOMEPAGE
Inside This Issue:
Features
PEF fires back in budget
battles for state services
PEF fights to raise state
revenues
Budget cuts leave research
in tatters
Unions may unite in battle
over health benefits
DEC: Polluters’ lackies
can replace state monitors
Departments
President's Message: NYS
budget must be fair
You Said It: Member's
letters this month
Health & Safety:
Evaluating your safety risks
Member Mobilization:
Building Survivor Skills
Nurses' Station: Lobby Day
plans for May 5th
Retirees In Action: Fight
health insurance hike
PEF Membership Benefits
Program & Travel Corp
Members In Action
Union Matters
'Operation Enduring Freedom'
with state workers
DOH members ahead in
evacuation planning
Call for Delegates: Annual
Convention Rules
Member dons dress to raise
$$ for charity
Other Links
Professional Directory
Members' Classified
Member Communicator Feedback
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