REPORT ON NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL
FALL 2002
LABOR DIVISION MEETING
OPENING SESSION-FULL DIVISION MEETING
Introductions of all members were made and the IBEW was,
again, well in the majority of members present. General information was presented by Chairman Mary Sansom on
Division Meeting agendas, also we were told to check the Labor Division’s
website and respond to the possibility of President Bush revoking rules of the
OSHA Regulatory Commission.
IBEW CAUCUS
Jim Tomaseski (Director of IBEW Safety Department)
addressed the caucus and informed us of the following information:
1.
There is a need for more time for the IBEW Caucus.
There are too many issues to be covered in the time allotted and the
International Office needs to get the input from all the locals throughout the
country. This is the only
time that the IBEW Safety Director can sit down and discuss and get input and
questions from the local unions. It
was suggested and approved by the caucus that a separate day be devoted to the
IBEW Caucus. Letters referencing this will be sent to all local unions.
2.
IBEW is working on an e-mail network for its members.
3.
The IBEW will have an IBEW Safety and Health Conference in the future.
4.
The IBEW website will allow private community, active and retired members
to get into the site and chat and discuss electrical and safety issues.
5.
Jim Tomaseski’s phone # is
202-728-6040 and he can also be reached at safety@ibew.org
6.
There is a new federal law as of September 30th that will
affect approximately 26,500 drivers. The
new law involves the CDL license and local unions will be receiving detailed
information on this new law. Some
points of interest involve use of private vehicles.
Some examples are: 15 miles over speed limit twice in three years and a third in
an additional three years will result in a disqualification.
A DUI in a private vehicle will result in a 12-month disqualification and
a second DUI within 10 years results in a lifetime disqualification.
Substance abuse is also included in this new law.
7.
FR clothing, required to be worn while doing work on energized circuits,
will now be sold by the IBEW and will be made available in the new IBEW
catalogue. The new company is
called American Wear and is union made in America! As of now, almost every piece of FR clothing is made in
Mexico or China. We were reminded
that OSHA would be citing the employer if its employees are not wearing FR
clothing when required.
TRAINING SESSION ON EYE PROTECTION
A union representative of the Titmus Corporation
presented an excellent training session on eye protection. Some points of interest are:
OSHA was responsible in a big reduction of eye injuries because of
standards in eye protection, information on OSHA can be found in 29 CFR PART
1910.133; although there has been a decrease of two thirds since 1989 of on the
job eye injuries, there has been a dramatic increase in home injuries,
therefore, be sure to implement eye protection at home as well; don’t forget
eye protection during sporting activities for you and your children and be sure
to use the correct equipment for the sport involved; be sure to wear your glasses correctly, wear side shields and
if adding eye shields make sure shield overlaps the front of the eye glass
frame, be sure to keep clean and check daily. If any further information is
needed in this area contact your safety committee.
ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
PROMOTION OF TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN S&H
The committee members shared information on how their
local unions are promoting education and training on safety and health.
One of the key reports presented was given by IBEW Local 292
(Minneapolis) regarding their successful safety fair held in the spring.
They shared valuable information on how to plan and execute this type of
event.
OSHA TRAINING SESSION
This was a great session with a lot of information
from labor liaisons from the ten OSHA regions throughout the U.S.
Unfortunately, our liaison from region V was not present.
He was absent because President Bush will not allow appointments of
liaisons who have retired or left their positions for other reasons.
Region V includes IL., IN., MI., MN., OH. And WI.
Many statistics were presented by various regions but one that stood out
was, again, the death rate in the state of Texas.
For one calendar year, from Oct. to Oct., there were 254 deaths with the
majority being Hispanics. Another
point of interest discussed was the creation of a labor liaison to OSHA from the
AFL-CIO. Labor, with the help of Peg Seminerio (AFL-CIO) is pushing
OSHA to pass regulations for safer work conditions.
PROFESSIONAL INTEREST COMMITTEE MEETINGS
CONSTRUCTION SAFETY AND HEALTH
OSHA labor liaisons were invited to attend and
presented additional information pertaining to the construction industry.
Some of the highlights of note were as follows.
Region I reported that Massachusetts had less than half the construction
death rate than the rest of the country. They
believe that education, unions and medical access were the prime contributors to
this result. For example, Rhode
Island and Massachusetts require ten hour OSHA training to be eligible to work
on a job costing over $100,000. Laura,
from Region II, gave an excellent presentation on how OSHA handled the Trade
Center evacuation and subsequent clean up.
OSHA played a big part in preventing accidents, deaths and monitoring air
quality during the 911 clean up. There
were 2,886 workers involved in this clean up, and there were no fatalities in
this work. Region VI was not proud
to report one death per day in the past year.
One of the states contained in Region VI is Texas.
Region VII reported that electrocutions and electrical explosions have
proliferated to a new high after being low for the last ten years.
Region VIII mentioned that 70% of the calls that it receives are from the
IBEW. Members of the committee
pointed out that the only way that we will be able to get the labor liaisons
replaced for regions III, V and IX is through political pressure from the AFLCIO.
If you would like stats on any region, go to the website at http://stats.bls.gov/iif/oshafoil.htm
TRAINING SESSION
EMERGENCY RESPONSE
There was an excellent training session presented by
Steve Twist from American Airlines Fire Department in Tulsa.
The number one emergency call on a job site is for chest pains/high blood
pressure. Remember for every minute
without oxygen, you lower your chance of survival by an additonal 10%.
In the year 2000, six thousand people died from heart attacks in the U.S.
alone. This is a good argument for
portable defibulators to be present on all job sites.
SPECIAL INTEREST COMMITTEE MEETINGS
TROUBLED WORKER SAFETY AND HEALTH
The Right of Privacy Act will create new costs for
health plans and MAP plans. The
reason for this is that
social security numbers and names will no longer be used to
identify the people in these plans. When
information about a person is being sent from the plans only a code number will
be used so as not to divulge the identity of the individual to protect their
privacy. I’m sure we will all be
hearing more about this in the future. There
was a good discussion about the work situation throughout the country.
We know that being out of work and layoffs etc. can lead to many problems
such as drugs, alcohol abuse, depression, domestic violence etc.
If you find yourself in any of these situations, contact your MAP program
provided by your employer or professional help.
CLOSING SESSION-FULL DIVISION MEETING
Deaths in locals were announced. It is to be noted that of the 6 deaths reported, 2 were
cancer related and 4 were electrocutions. These
4 electrocution deaths were as follows: IBEW Detroit-38 and 42 year old, IBEW San Diego-49 year old,
IBEW Minniapolis-36 year old. The
President of the National Safety Council, Alan McMillan, informed us of the
following- the NSC is back on track after 911, we have much stronger
representation on the NSC with the appointment of Gary Ruffner as Vice-President
for labor, Dick Shoemaker from GM is also on the board and that effort is being
made for even more union representation, work is under way for the 2005
International World Safety Congress.
He went on to tell us that the NSC is working hard and backing the
replacement of the labor liaisons to OSHA from San Francisco, Philadelphia and
Chicago. He pointed out that work places are safe but we need more
safety at home and off the job, there was a 12% rise in fatal accidents in
homes, 52,000 people die each year from preventable accidents away from work.
George Kures, IBEW 103 Boston, mentioned that the labor division is a
large paying member of the NSC and that we want more representation.
Chuck Monahan, IBEW 103 Boston, stressed the issue of getting the OSHA
liaisons appointed and President McMillian stated he would strongly support this
matter. Larry Libitor, OSHA from
Washington, told us that we have representation in Washington now through the
AFL-CIO. The phone number there is
202-293-2270 ext. 462. Timmy
Chevez, a representative for the longshoreman, addressed us on the informational
picket which was in progress during this meeting.
You already know the results of this situation but at the time, he told
us that the Taft Hartley Act was going to be invoked and thanked us for all our
support. It should be noted that the longshoremen loaded and unloaded the cruise
ships for the general public and the money earned was donated to charity.
Two new trustees to the NSC have been appointed, Gary Ruffner,
Vice-President for labor and Jim Tomaseski, IBEW safety director.
Other important points at the meeting;
- NFP70E
(working on energized circuits) to be adopted for all industries.
- A
labor department grant of $2,400,000 was given to train Chinese mine workers
in Chinese labor laws.
- Funding
was cut for OSHA and given to Home Land Security.
Thanks a lot George. Let’s Roll!
This meeting was adjourned and this concluded the
Fall Meeting of the NSC Labor Division
Submitted by Gene Crovetti
IBEW Local 150 Safety and Health Committee
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