Title: The NYS Public Employees Federation's Stop Workplace Violence Campaign
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
Matthew London, MS
MLondon@pef.org
Jonathan Rosen, MS, CIH
JRosen@pef.org
New York State Public Employees Federation
In July 2005, the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) launched a statewide Stop Workplace Violence Campaign, joining with sister public sector unions and other organizations. This far-reaching campaign builds upon the extensive work that the union and others have done over the past 15 years and has two principle components; legislative and worksite-based.
The legislative package consists of three bills, each of which passed New York's two legislative chambers with bi-partisan support. The cornerstone is the Workplace Violence Prevention Bill, which requires all public employers to evaluate their workplaces to determine the presence of risk factors that may lead to violence in the workplace. Public employers with more than 20 employees are required to implement a written program to prevent violence in the workplace which must include an assessment of risk factors and implementation of feasible controls to reduce these risks. After a vigorous lobbying effort, that bill has been signed into law and will take effect in 2007.
The second bill, named after Judi Scanlon, a PEF nurse who was murdered in 1998 while conducting a home visit in her capacity as an intensive case manager for mentally ill clients living in the community, directs that a NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) employee who is required to enter the residence of a person with serious mental illness can request to be accompanied by another employee for safety reasons. It requires that OMH provide all intensive case managers a mobile telephone and annual training in safety and the prevention of violence. It also requires that OMH provide enough staff so that each intensive case manager will have a caseload of no more than 12 patients. This bill also passed the Assembly and Senate but was vetoed by Gov. Pataki.
The third bill, the Workplace Injury Disclosure and Accountability Bill, would require the State Department of Civil Service to prepare an annual report about workers' compensation cases, rates, and costs among state employees. The data would be used to assist in the identification of high-risk workplaces and in the evaluation of workplace health and safety programs. Currently most state agencies and labor/management and health and safety committees do not have access to such data. After being passed by the legislature, that bill has been submitted to Gov. Pataki.
In addition to the legislative initiatives, day-long mobilization trainings were conducted in ten locations around the state between January and early May 2006. Union resources provided funding for paid leave time for more than 300 PEF members to participate. These members work in 24 different state agencies from 126 separate workplaces. The participative program featured an overview of the basic facts on workplace violence, assessment of risk factors, and prevention and control measures, utilizing the OSHA guidelines and the practical experience of the PEF Health & Safety Department in implementing programs at state institutions. The program also stressed the need for the union to provide support to injured members.
A major portion of the program was an interactive small group action planning session using an action work sheet and a trained union facilitator. The goal of this activity was to provide participants with the tools to return to their worksite, meet with co-workers, and then evaluate the workplaces to identify risk factors and develop preventive measures. As part of the campaign, PEF developed a variety of materials, including a series of fact sheets, stickers, buttons, posters, a DVD, and a booklet titled, The Human Face of Workplace Violence. The color booklet featured photos of the battered faces of assaulted members and a brief summary of their own stories. The 7-minute DVD includes interviews with assaulted members, the daughter of Judi Scanlon, legislators who sponsored the bills, and a district attorney who supports the campaign. The DVD and Human Faces booklet were sent to every New York dtate legislator and fistrict attorney, as well as activists within PEF.
These materials can be accessed at the Campaign's Web site: http://www.pef.org/stopworkplaceviolence. As stated in the campaign, Regardless of where you work, getting punched, kicked, or otherwise abused is NOT part of the job!