Transcript Using Contract Language to Strengthen Health and Safety in

Using Contract
Language to Strengthen
Health and Safety in the
Workplace
Diane Matthew Brown, MS, CET
AFSCME International
8/30/2012
Objectives
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Why Negotiate?
Preparing For Bargaining
Recommended Clauses
Strategies
Justifying the language: $ and cents
Review sample language
Why negotiate Health and
Safety language?
• State Laws and their enforcement can be
undermined by political forces
• There will NEVER be enough inspectors
to protect workers
• Protect workers from discrimination
• Deal with health and safety issues that
have no laws
• The Union has a say in creating a safe
work place
Preparing to Bargain
• Review relevant laws, standards and
codes and identify weaknesses or gaps
• Review the current contract-what’s there –
what isn’t? Use checklist
• Survey membership-particular concerns
• Review past grievances on health and
safety-how effective were they?
• Talk with your health and safety committee
if one exists
Must -haves
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General Duty
Health and safety committee
Dealing with emergencies
Refusal to Work/Imminent Danger
Reporting Unsafe Conditions
No Discrimination
General Duty Clause
• Employer Responsibility
• Duty to provide a safe and sanitary work
place free of recognized hazards
• Recognized standards can include
health codes, fire and building codes
• Catch-all: covers hazards where there
are no OSHA or State Standards
• Correct unsafe conditions
• Union is not liable
The Labor-Management
Health and Safety Committee
• Equal representation between labor and
management
• Union selects their members-not
appointed
• How committee chairs are selected
• How often it will meet
• On work time
• Duties and Responsibilities
• Accountability
Committee Basics
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Training for the Committee
Ability to gather information and access to records
Ability to investigate complaints
Ability to do walkthroughs
Incident Investigation
Minutes of Committee meetings and other
communications
• Rights of the Local Union Health and Safety
committee
Dealing With Emergencies
• Deal with the traditional emergencies,
such as fire, medical emergencies
• Terrorism and bomb threats
• Evacuation vs. shelter in place
• First Aid, CPR and now AED
• Emergency Action Plan-who has it, how to
get it
Right To Refuse
• No worker should have to choose between their
job and his/her life
• US Supreme Court ruled in Whirlpool vs.
Marshall- “reasonableness”
• Contract can expand on this-worker is acting in
good faith
• Procedures for refusing to work in unsafe
conditions should be spelled out in the contract
• Refusing to operate unsafe vehicles is also
important-especially for CDL drivers
Sample Right to Refuse
• “The right of an employee to: (a) refuse to
accept an assignment or a job which the
employee has reason to believe is
hazardous or is performed under
hazardous conditions; (b) refuse to report
to work because the employee has reason
to believe that travel to or from work, or
work at the employee’s place of work is
hazardous, is hereby confirmed.”
Newspaper Guild Model Contract
Procedures for Reporting
• Place clear, concise language on how
workers are to report unsafe conditions
– Supervisor
– Health and safety committee
• Recourse if situation is not corrected
• Specific time frames
• Accelerated grievance procedure
No Discrimination
• In order to create a safe workplaceemployee participation is crucial
• Workers continue to be discriminated
against for reporting safety hazards or
refusing to work in unsafe conditions
• Must protect the worker-similar to
whistleblower language
• Ramifications for violation
Sample No Discrimination
“The Employer shall assure that no
employee is subject to restraint,
interference, coercion, discrimination, or
reprisal for filing a report of unsafe or
unhealthy working conditions, or other
participation in agency occupational
safety and health program activities”
AFGE and Social Security Administration 1996
Specific Hazards
• Language should refer to “recognized standards”
or the specific OSH standard, if applicable
• Extreme weather conditions
• Highway: work zone safety, PPE, vests
• Schools: indoor air, infectious diseases, chemicals,
violence
• Public Works, water/wastewater: confined space
entry, trenching and excavation, lockout/tagout
• Hospital/Healthcare: Ergonomics, violence,
infectious disease
What if there are no standards?
• Many emerging health and safety issues
have no OSHA standards
• Examples:
– Indoor Air Quality and mold issues
– Workplace Violence
– Ergonomics (not just office workers!)
– Infectious Diseases (pandemic flu)
• Language is crucial for these issues
because there is no agency to fall back on
• Reference recognized industry standards or
guidelines in the language (ANSI, NFPA,
CDC, ACGIH, NIOSH, ASHREA)
Other things to consider
• How to report injuries
• Dealing with the Workers Compensation
System
• Return-to-work and light duty
• ADA and other accommodations
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Going beyond OSHA standards
Strategies
• Don’t settle for just personal protective
equipment to solve health and safety
problems-always refer back to the hierarchy
of controls
• Use “shall” in your language whenever
possible
• Training alone doesn’t solve health and
safety issues
• Beware of “No Tolerance” language
• Be prepared to sell it to the membership!
Justifying the Contract Proposal
• Many employers balk at health and
safety language citing costs
• Many employers link safety to PPE
• Be prepared to have figures on:
– Number of lost work days
– Amount of overtime in depts. where injuries
have occurred
– Workers Compensation costs/premiums
– Lost time on projects due to injuries or
damage
Justifying the Contract Proposal
• SAFETY=PRODUCTIVITY-incidents
costs $ even if no one is hurt
• Best use of tax dollars-injuries and
illnesses cost $ and that $ comes out of
the taxpayers’ pockets
• Determine if there are other funds
(grants) to help pay for some items
Justifying the Contract Proposal
• Link safety of employees to the safety of
the public:
– Schools
– Hospitals
– Vehicles
– Hazardous materials and the
environment
Writing the Effective Grievance
• In addition to the contract section, when
grieving a specific safety violation, state
the title number and chapter
– e.g. Hazard Communication 29 CFR
1910.1200
• When grieving something under general
duty, restate article and the clause in
the grievance
Writing the Effective Grievance
• If citing a code other that OSHA, such
as building, fire or health codes, state
the code number and last revision date
– e.g. NFPA 101 Life Safety Code 2003
• Provide a solution! A piece of
machinery, training, updated
procedures, or a combination of controls
to solve the health and safety issue
Summary
• Negotiating health and safety contract
language is necessary to fill in the gaps of
State and Federal laws and enforcement
• In addition to general duty, language on
committees, emergencies, right to refuse and
discrimination should be included
• Survey incident logs, past grievances and
member concerns when considering language
• Draft language that covers health and safety
issues not addressed in current regulations