PAINFUL MEMORY — PEF nurse Rhonda Bedow tells the state Hazard Abatement Board at a hearing in Buffalo how she was beaten by a patient at Buffalo Psychiatric Center. Photos of her injuries are displayed next to her.
— Photo by Caroline Esposito

Would apply to all public-sector worksites
PEF calls on state to set safety, security standard

By SHERRY HALBROOK
Too often, government buildings and worksites are the settings of violence.

That’s why so many PEF members lined up to speak out at public hearings around the state in June to call on the state to set a workplace safety and security standard for government worksites throughout New York.

PEF President Roger Benson and 17 members came forward to urge the state Hazard Abatement Board to recommend the state labor commissioner adopt a standard.

“I strongly urge you to recommend that a standard for Workplace Safety and Security in the Public Sector be developed and implemented with all deliberate speed,” Benson told the board. “This is a priority to the 1.2 million affected public employees and their unions. It is long overdue and desperately needed.

“New York needs a uniform standard for workplace safety and security that will apply across the board to all public agencies where employees are at risk.” Benson testified.

He said this standard should require policies, procedures and practices for preventing, reporting, and responding to violence in the workplace. It should, at minimum, require the assessment of risks, a written safety plan, and training and education for employees. And it should require public agencies to identify and take steps to prevent and control hazards.

“Such a standard is necessary, particularly in light of the increased security risks that we face since the tragedy of September 11, 2001,” Benson added.

If the Hazard Abatement Board recommends a standard which the state commissioner of labor adopts, it would apply to all public employees in the state.

HAZARDOUS DUTY — Testifying before the state Hazard Abatement Board in Syracuse, PEF teacher Mike Aiello tells how he was seriously injured by a student at the state School for the Deaf in Utica. He is flanked by PEF Region 6 Coordinator Mike DelPiano and and Greg Case, who hold exhibits showing Aiello’s injuries. — Photo by Mike Greenlar

At a June 23 hearing in New York City, Benson — who co-chairs the state AFL-CIO Public Employee Health & Safety Committee — PEF nurse Debbie Egel and social worker Vivian Afuwah testified about PEF members who have been killed or injured on the job for New York state.

“In my six-year tenure as president of PEF,” Benson said, “I have faced many challenges and many arduous and stressful days, not the least of which was September 11, 2001. However, my most difficult day was that day before Thanksgiving in 1998 when I received a phone call notifying me of the death of Judith Scanlon, a PEF member and intensive case manager in the Office of Mental Health. Judi was brutally murdered by one of her clients during a home visit.

“While workplace safety has always been a priority of PEF, from that day on it was raised to a new level of importance for me. I have dedicated the strength of my union to do everything in its power to make PEF members’ workplaces as safe as possible.”

Benson also cited the murders of parole officers Brian Rooney, who was shot to death execution-style because he dared to arrest a Queens drug lord for violating his parole, and Barry Sutherland, who was shot to death while pursuing a parole absconder in New York City.

“Many other PEF members have also been horribly injured on the job,” Benson said.

Many of these PEF members were among those who also testified at the board’s June hearings in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse and other cities, graphically describing their attacks and injuries.

Heavy human, financial toll
Benson cited National Bureau of Labor Statistics data for New York which show the number and rate of assaults on state employees, including stabbing, biting, hitting, beating and sexual assaults have increased in each of the three years from 1999 to 2001.

DEEP EMOTIONAL WOUNDS — PEF social worker Vivian Afuwah testifies at a Hazard Abatement Board hearing in New York City about her emotional struggle to recover from a very violent assault by a client who choked her. Afuwah stressed the need for state agencies to protect employees and support those who are hurt. — Photo by Olubiyi Shehindemi

The number of assaults on state employees has risen from 1,396 in 1999 to 1,710 in 2001. And the rate of assaults and injuries per 10,000 state employees rose to 83.5 in 2001, a 26 percent increase over the 1999 rate.

When you factor in direct and indirect employment costs, workplace violence costs the state an estimated $42.5 million annually.

Thanks to joint efforts with PEF, injury statistics for the state Office of Mental Health have improved, but still show an extremely high statewide accident rate of 25.1 accidents per 100 workers in 2001-02. This rate is doubled to 51.1 when only forensic facilities are considered.

“It’s outrageous that more than half of all OMH employees at forensic facilities are injured in a single year,” Benson said.

Working for safer worksites
Benson said the union sees understaffing at many state agencies and worksites as opening the door to workplace violence.

PEF has attacked the need for safer working conditions by seeking better staffing, better laws and regulations, and by working with management, other labor unions and researchers to develop training and strategies to improve workplace safety, he said.

“This year alone, PEF supported eight different workplace safety bills,” Benson said.

“We have had some success along the way, but even at their best, the results of these initiatives are incremental and piecemeal, with no guarantee of permanence. A state workplace safety and security standard is needed to make sure these joint efforts are completed and are not discontinued when managers or leaders change,” he said. “All the improvements at OMH could slip away if there is no standard requiring them.

“Individual agency initiatives are valuable, but they can not take the place of a comprehensive standard on workplace safety with broad application and strict accountability,” Benson said. “If we cannot obtain a management commitment to safety, we need the ability to file a specific PESH complaint.”

DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN — PEF nurse Ricardo Fernandez tells the state Hazard Abatement Board at a hearing in Albany how his nose was broken by a patient at Capital District Psychiatric Center. The injury required reconstructive surgery — Photo by Tim Raab

Where’s the political will?
Contrasting the media and legislative responses to the murders of Kendra Webdale and Judi Scanlon by mentally ill individuals, Benson said the state moves swiftly to protect public safety, but often drags its feet in protecting public employees from equal or greater dangers.

“The only distinction is that Judi was killed while doing her job. Her death was a workplace-safety deficit, rather than a deficit in community safety,” Benson said.

“The political will was there for Kendra’s Law. We need the same will to enact Judi’s Law and address workplace violence.

“Zero tolerance is the only acceptable approach to workplace fatalities and assaults,” Benson said.
“PEF will continue to fight unrelentingly for the safety of its members. We hope you will make that fight easier by recommending the commissioner of labor set a comprehensive workplace safety standard.”

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Inside This Issue:
Features
Lawmakers override all 119 budget vetoes
Set state safety, security standard
Thank your legislators

Departments
President's Message:Our work continues
You Said It: Member's letters this month
PS&T Contract Update: Pay hikes hot topic
Member Highlights;Keeping up the good fight
Retirees In Action: New officers take the reins
PEF Membership Benefits Program & Travel Corp
Nurses' Station:
- Derail unsafe staffing, put laws on the fast track
- Roswell Park honors nurses
- Nurses conference addresses timely topics
Legislative Action:
- Union presses lawmakers on contracting out
- Legislature passes 11 bills PEF supports
- Don’t let feds shortchange NY
Health Benefits:
- Feds aim to guard your privacy
- College students need shot in arm
- HMO applied wrong rule for disabled kids

Union Matters
PEF, OASAS train workers for emergencies
EAP Coordinator earns Quality Service Award
Making state park system a summer delight
Pre-Tax Transit pilot put on hold
Balloting brings 13 newcomers to E-Board
Convention 2003: Delegate preview
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