Health & Safety: Build the Coalition

By DEBORAH A. MILES
The main buzz at the two-day PEF Health and Safety Conference focused on how much information was available, and the great amount of enthusiasm shown by the participants.

More than 400 PEF members and state agency managers took advantage of this high-energy conference in Albany sponsored by PEF, PEF Membership Benefits and the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) in March.

The event featured 17 workshops ranging from a health and safety committees “101” to an advanced workers’ compensation forum. The theme was “Build the Coalition.”
“This conference provided an excellent opportunity to educate, train and motivate our union leaders and state agency managers to address crucial health and safety issues,” said PEF President Ken Brynien.

“PEF stands united with GOER in our mutual goal of preventing worker injury and illness, pain and suffering, and the associated negative effects on agency performance and workers’ compensation costs.”

Significant investments

Pico Ben-Amotz, state deputy commissioner of labor for worker protection and one of the keynote speakers, told an attentive audience, “For some of us, safety and health is our job. For others, it is our business; it is what we get involved in.

“Whether we are doing our jobs or minding our business, workplace safety and health is about lives and futures. It is about looking after ourselves and each other. Our involvement in safety and health gives our lives real meaning and purpose. It is what lets us sleep soundly and awaken to a new dawn.”

Ben-Amotz spoke about the vision held by the Department of Labor’s division of safety and health, and the Public Employee Safety and Health (PESH) bureau, and how it has grown during the last two years.

“Changed circumstances tell us we have to start making significant investments in providing additional training, guidance and support to our staff to ensure our strong enforcement can withstand increased challenges,” Ben-Amotz said.

“The current budget crisis will present additional challenges as we seek to improve and enhance our efforts. The department will do everything we can to continue to push for the funding and tools we need to ensure the safety and health of public employees,” he said.

New CD available
The conference provided many tools for training. In addition to the workshops, participants received a “Build the Coalition” CD, also an effort to go green and reduce paper waste.

“There was a wealth of information available, and we wanted to make sure the participants had access to all the workshop materials,” said PEF Health and Safety Committee Chair Kathy D’Arminio.

The CD contains presentations from the workshops, fact sheets and numerous topical materials. It is available upon request through PEF’s Health and Safety Department.
“It is important for participants to take the information back to their worksites. It reinforces our theme — Build the Coalition. Working together, we can make certain every facility in New York provides a safe and healthy environment for our members,” D’Arminio said.

PEF Director of Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Rosen said D’Arminio’s focus on building and rebuilding local health and safety committees inspired many new PEF activists to attend the conference, as well as rekindling an interest among veteran activists.

Working together
“Building a coalition with co-worker support in health and safety issues is a key element in improving working conditions,” said PEF Division 229 member Migdalia Rodriguez-Martinez who works at the state Department of Correctional Services.

Years ago, Rodriguez-Martinez was exposed to chemicals in a floor stripper used at her worksite and developed asthma.

“I had to do a lot of fighting on my own to get help. I made a lot of phone calls and I upset a lot of people. As a result of retaliation, I lost a job assignment.

“This conference is a wonderful way to get people involved. More and more people are becoming aware of the issues we have in the workplace, and how these issues affect our health. Because of my own experience and what I have learned at PEF’s health and safety conferences, I am now able to help more people navigate the red tape when they become exposed to chemicals,” Rodriguez-Martinez said.
The message she intends to bring back to members is, “Fight for your rights, seek help, and file the right forms.”

Get involved
Jackie Wooden, a health and safety advocate at the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) in PEF Division 183, said ‘Build the Coalition” was the fifth health and safety conference she has attended.

She is a resources and reimbursement agent at McPike Addiction Treatment Center in Utica, where getting involved in health and safety issues has paid off.

“OASAS was one of the first to get involved with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health project with the University of Maryland on workplace violence prevention. I am on the committee and it has done outstanding work. We are ahead of the game and started the prevention plan before the state mandate took effect.

“The more information we have, the better it is for our employees and the patients they serve,” Wooden said.

A PEF Division 240 member at the State Insurance Fund, Kenneth Johnson, said the information at the conference expanded his knowledge of health and safety issues.

“I am eager to bring back all the information to members,” Johnson said. “To protect ourselves and each other, it is important for all members to get involved with union activities and learn about the importance of health and safety in the workplace. This conference provided it all.