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WATKINS GLEN - Nearly 20years ago, they were the “shotsheard ‘round the union.”

In October 1992, the bullets thattragically ended the lives of fourCSEA members working in theSupport Collection unit of theSchuyler County Department ofSocial Services, fired by an angry“deadbeat dad” who later killedhimself, not only sparked grief andoutrage, but a commitment byCSEA to make public workplacessafer throughout New York.

The resulting Workplace Secu-rity Act took CSEA more than adecade to get passed, and remains the lastinglegacy of the four workers: Phyllis Caslin,Florence Pike, Denise Miller Van Amburgand Nancy Wheeler.

To honor that legacy, and the upcoming20th remembrance of their tragic shooting,Region President Colleen Wheaton decided

to make the slain Schuyler County workersthe focus for this year’s Workers MemorialDay observance.

For this year’s observance, our RegionSafety and Health Committee joined theChemung/Schuyler Labor Council in plantingthe “Living Memorial,” a tree and plaque inmemory of fallen workers, just outside theSchuyler County Office Building and Court-house where the shots rang out 20 years ago.The event started with welcome fromWheaton and Schuyler County AdministratorTim O’Hearn. Labor Council President WaltGilbert also addressed those gathered. CSEARegion 5 Safety and Health Committee ChairJoe Miceli installed the plaque and read thenames of the four Schuyler County workers,along with CSEA members Stephan Mueller,John Lattimore, and Robert DelVecchioJr., who all died on the job since last year’sobservance of Workers Memorial Day.

20 years later, CSEA remembers slainSchuyler County DSS workers onWorkers Memorial Day

Joe Miceli, Safety & Health Committee Chair Colleen Wheaton, Central Region President

Spring 2012

The CSEA Central Region 5 Safety & Health Newsletter

by CSEA Communications Specialist Mark Kotzin

Inside

A Message fromRegion PresidentColleen Wheaton Page 2

OSH SpecialistUpdate Page 2

Messagefrom the Chair Page 3

Safety Improves atTaberg Pages 4

New OSHA Standard Pages 5-6

Safety Reports Pages 6-7

Region 5 WinsSafety Award Page 8

For more photos, seePage 3

Behind the just-dedicated “Living

Memorial” tree plantedby our Region Safety

and Health Committee,about 70 people

gathered in front of theSchuyler County

Courthouse toremember the four

DSS workers who werekilled there 20 yearsago this fall, as we

observed WorkersMemorial Day.

Region President Colleen Wheaton addresses the crowd atour Workers Memorial Day observance.

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As you will read inthe article below, we aretemporarily without anOccupational Safety andHealth Specialist in ourRegion, but that doesn’tmean that workplacesafety and health is anyless of a priority withinour 20 counties.

In fact, when you readthis newsletter, you’lldiscover we are still veryactive when it comes toaddressing health and safety issues inour Region. This is thanks in part to atremendous Occupational Safety andHealth Department in our AlbanyHeadquarters and in the field who havegiven us support whenever andwherever we have needed it.

Whether it’s keeping workers outof harms way in a sewage treatmentplant in the Southern Tier, or filingPESH Complaints to reduce the injuryrate at a juvenile justice detentioncenter in northern Oneida County, they

have been there for us.

We depend on ourSafety and HealthDepartment staff forthe guidance andtechnical knowledgeneeded to fight forsafer workplaces, butwithout an OSHSpecialist assigned,we are dependingeven more on ourRegion Committee

members and ouractivists throughout every workplacewho care about safety and healthissues. Without their regularinvolvement, we would be unable tobe as effective as we are in keepingour workplaces safer.

You will see on the back page ofthis newsletter that we (temporarily)have a smaller Safety & HealthCommittee in the Region. That’s dueto the reorganization of all ourcommittees since our new term ofoffice started. We are now in the

process of rebuilding this committeeand are looking for activists to benominated to serve on our Safety andHealth Committee. Please let yourLocal President know if you areinterested in serving in this capacity.

As we use this newsletter tohighlight some of our successes, wealso reflect back on some of the mosttragic moments in our union’s history.We do so to remember that we mustlearn from the mistakes of the past anddo everything we can to prevent themfrom occurring in the future.

So while I was very proud recentlyto accept a safety award from theCentral New York OccupationalHealth Clinics (see back page article),I did so knowing that there is so muchmore we need to do, together, to makesure our members and our workplacesremain safe. That is our never endingpriority.

In Solidarity,

A Message From Region President Colleen Wheaton

Workplace safety always a priority in our Region

Is an official publication of theCSEA Central Region

Safety & Health Committee

Colleen Wheaton, PresidentJoe Miceli, Chair

Donald Lynskey, AdvisorMark Kotzin, Editor

Send address corrections to:CSEA, 6595 Kirkville Road

East Syracuse, NY 13057

Colleen Wheaton

Alive!OSH Specialist Update

Occupational Safety and Health Specialist LynnetWitherell recently retired after an extended medicalleave of absence.

In her absence, OSH Specialists Gary China andJohn Bieger have been handling issues and concernsas they develop in our Region.

Those members who have safety and/or healthissues arise at their workplace, or who need assistancewith ongoing issues, should contact CSEA’s Occupa-tional Safety and Health Department at CSEA Headquarters at (800) 342-4146,ext. 1464.

CSEA has posted an opening for the OSH Specialist in our Region and iscurrently in the process of interviewing applicants. We will post informationon our website when a new OSH Specialist is hired.

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Normally Iwrite aboutspecific safetyissues going on

at the time, but this timeis different. Our formerOccupational Safety & HealthSpecialist Lynnet Witherell hasofficially retired due to healthreasons.

I feel it has to be said just howimportant Lynnet was to thisRegion and our members and justhow much she’ll be missed. No one

worked harder for the safety andhealth of our members than Lynnet.In most places, management hatedto see her show up. She took pridein that. She put the members’ wellbeing ahead of her own.

I spoke to Lynnet recently andshe told me she misses everyoneand to be safe. She’ll be tough toreplace. So if there’s a specificmessage from me it’s work safe, besafe and if you see somethingunsafe, make a phone call or tellsomeone. Everybody deserves the

right to gohome at theend of the day.

On behalfof the Region5 Safety andHealth Com-mittee we’d like to wish Lynnetwell and thank her for her manyyears of service to CSEA and ourmembers.

A message from the Chairby Joe Miceli, Chair, Region 5 Safety & Health Committee

Joe

Workers Memorial Day Photos

Photos, clockwise from upper left:Region Officers Tammy Witteman and Casey Walpoleare among those who gathered for the observance;Region President Colleen Wheaton watches as Safetyand Health Committee Chair Joe Miceli places thededication plaque at the base of the living memorial tree;Region President Colleen Wheaton looks on as OswegoCounty DSS Worker Helen Chetney presents a memorialcard signed by the entire Oswego DSS staff to Sue Brill,Schuyler County DSS worker and CSEA Local 849President. (Photos by Communications Specialist Mark Kotzin)

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Safety Happenings

Safety Report: Union pressure brings about safetyimprovements at Taberg Residential Centerby Mark Kotzin, CSEA Communications Specialist

TABERG – Worker safety appears tobe improving at Taberg ResidentialCenter, a state OCFS-run juvenile justicefacility for girls in northern OneidaCounty, after CSEA highlighted thefacility’s extreme injury rate in themedia, which prompted investigations bystate and elected officials.

In January, CSEA President DannyDonohue slammed OCFS managementover the facility’s injury rate, saying thatworkers in state juvenile detentioncenters throughout the state were“literally taking a beating” at the handsof the youth who are in their care.

“For years, CSEA has consistentlyand loudly warned about the danger frontline workers at OCFS face and it’s timesomeone listens before anyone else getshurt,” Donohue said.

In the widespread media coveragethat followed, the union pointed out thatmore than half the facility’s workerswere or had recently been out on leavedue to injuries sustained on the job,some caused by resident attacks uponstaff. Their injuries included two brokencollarbones, a concussion, a brokenankle and a dislocated shoulder. To coverfor their fallen co-workers and providethe round-the-clock supervisionresidents require, the remaining aideswere forced to work double shifts,making their physically and emotionallydraining jobs even more stressful andmore dangerous.

The union pointed out that Taberg issymptomatic of a larger problem.According to a report issued by the stateDepartment of Civil Service on stateemployee Workers’ Compensationclaims, YDAs have the second higheston-the-job injury rate of all state jobtitles. CSEA blamed the injuries atTaberg on insufficient staffing andtraining needed to deal with the influx ofresidents from the Tryon GirlsResidential Center in Fulton County,

which shut down last year. The unionsaid the arrival of female residentschanged the make-up of the previouslyall male facility, increasing the risk forviolence against staff there.

Following the union’s complaint tothe State DOL’s Public Employee Safety

and Health (PESH) Bureau, a PESHinspector conducted a walk-throughinvestigation of the facility, and severalarea State Legislators did their ownfacility tour to determine why theworkers were getting injured.

CSEA Industrial Hygienist MarkStipano and OSH Specialist Gary Chinaassisted with the filing of the PESHComplaint, and recently, the unionreceived the tentative results of the PESHinspection, which noted that the facilitywas going to be cited for all of the union’scomplaint items, including failure toconduct proper risk evaluations, developtrainings or properly report on WorkplaceViolence incidents. Stipano said that it ispossible that the violations could beexpanded to the agency level.

Even before the results of the PESHinspection were available, conditionsappeared to be improving at the facilityfollowing the union complaints.Additional management staff weretemporarily brought in from OCFS, andthe facility’s director and assistantdirector were replaced. Workers say therehas been an increase in worker training,which seems to be having a positiveimpact.

One worker, who refused to beidentified due to fears of retribution, saidthat “things are getting better.” Thereally important statistic, however, is thatsince the management shake-up, noCSEA members have reported beinginjured on the job.

It’s news that pleased CSEA CentralRegion President Colleen Wheaton.

“We had too many workers gettinghurt to allow this to continueunchallenged,” she said. “When weshined the media spotlight on what washappening, suddenly things started toimprove. It shows how we can make adifference when it comes to workersafety.”

“We had too manyworkers getting hurtto allow this tocontinueunchallenged.”

- Region PresidentColleen Wheaton

“…it’s time someonelistens before anyoneelse gets hurt.”

-CSEA PresidentDanny Donohue

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Safety Hot Topic

For more information:

U.S. Department of Labor

www.osha.gov (800) 321-OSHA (6742)

The Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requireschemical manufacturers, distributors, or importers toprovide Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) (formerly known asMaterial Safety Data Sheets or MSDSs) to communicatethe hazards of hazardous chemical products. As of June1, 2015, the HCS will require new SDSs to be in a uniformformat, and include the section numbers, the headings,and associated information under the headings below:

Section 1, Identification includes product identifier;manufacturer or distributor name, address, phonenumber; emergency phone number; recommended use;restrictions on use.

Section 2, Hazard(s) identification includes all hazardsregarding the chemical; required label elements.

Section 3, Composition/information on ingredientsincludes information on chemical ingredients; trade secretclaims.

Section 4, First-aid measures includes important symp-toms/effects, acute, delayed; required treatment.

Section 5, Fire-fighting measures lists suitable extinguishingtechniques, equipment; chemical hazards from fire.

Section 6, Accidental release measures lists emergencyprocedures; protective equipment; proper methods ofcontainment and cleanup.

Section 7, Handling and storage lists precautions for safehandling and storage, including incompatibilities.

(Continued on other side)

Hazard CommunicationSafety Data Sheets

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Hot Topic: OSHA revisesHazard CommunicationsStandard

From the OSHA web site

WASHINGTON – To better protect workers fromhazardous chemicals, the U.S. Department of Labor’sOccupational Safety and Health Administration hasrevised its Hazard Communication Standard, aligning itwith the United Nations’ global chemical labeling system.The new standard, once implemented, will prevent anestimated 43 deaths and result in an estimated $475.2million in enhanced productivity for U.S. businesses eachyear.

“Exposure to hazardous chemicals is one of the mostserious dangers facing American workers today,” saidSecretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “Revising OSHA’sHazard Communication Standard will improve thequality, consistency and clarity of hazard informationthat workers receive, making it safer for workers to dotheir jobs and easier for employers to stay competitivein the global marketplace.”

The new Hazard Communication Standard will befully implemented in 2016 and benefit workers byreducing confusion about chemical hazards in theworkplace, facilitating safety training and improvingunderstanding of hazards, especially for low literacyworkers. OSHA’s standard will classify chemicalsaccording to their health and physical hazards, andestablish consistent labels and safety data sheets for allchemicals made in the United States and imported fromabroad.

The revised standard is expected to prevent anestimated 585 injuries and illnesses annually and savemoney and increase productivity for American businessesthat regularly handle, store and use hazardous chemicals.

“OSHA’s 1983 Hazard Communication Standardgave workers the right to know. As one participantexpressed during our rulemaking process, this update willgive them the right to understand, as well,” said AssistantSecretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and HealthDr. David Michaels.

The final rule revising the standard is available at:http://s.dol.gov/P1.

New global standard designed toincrease hazard understanding,improve workplace safety

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Safety Hot Topic and Reports

For more information:

U.S. Department of Labor

www.osha.gov (800) 321-OSHA (6742)

Section 8, Exposure controls/personal protectionlists OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs);Threshold Limit Values (TLVs); appropriate engineeringcontrols; personal protective equipment (PPE).

Section 9, Physical and chemical properties lists thechemical’s characteristics.

Section 10, Stability and reactivity lists chemical stabilityand possibility of hazardous reactions.

Section 11, Toxicological information includes routes ofexposure; related symptoms, acute and chronic effects;numerical measures of toxicity.

Section 12, Ecological information*Section 13, Disposal considerations*Section 14, Transport information*Section 15, Regulatory information*

Section 16, Other information, includes the date ofpreparation or last revision.

*Note: Since other Agencies regulate this information,OSHA will not be enforcing Sections 12 through 15(29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2)).

Employers must ensure that SDSs are readily accessibleto employees.See Appendix D of 29 CFR 1910.1200 for a detaileddescription of SDS contents.

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Our campus is in the process of renovating several dormbuildings. Two of the smaller dorm buildings were completedand they were working on the third one, when CSEA noticedthat their new metal roofing was causing a potential hazard.

When snow melted, it would slide down quickly off theroofs, landing near or on the sidewalks that students wereusing. If the snow was wet and heavy, this could have beendangerous, so CSEA brought it to management’s attentionat a Health and Safety Committee meeting.

It took six months, but the campus came up with asolution, adding braces to the roofs to help break up the snowand slow down the amount that would fall at one time. Now,snow stills falls, but it does not come off in heavy sheets likeit did, and it is less likely that anyone will get injured.

Safety Report: SUNYOneontaby Julie Young, SUNY Oneonta Local 635

In May 2011, an area of the Binghamton-Johnson CityJoint Sewage Treatment Plant suffered a major wall collapsedue to flooding. CSEA members at the plant were concernedthat the facility was structurally unsafe to re-enter.

A PESH inspection revealed that there were structuraldefects in the walls at the plant, making the area unsafe towork in. Subsequent studies by engineering companiesbacked up that claim.

So ever since the collapse, CSEA has refused to allowthe workers to return to the affected area, despite pressurefrom management to get them back to work.

“We were not going to allow our members back into thatarea until we had a report from the state certifying that thearea is safe to work in,” said CSEA Labor RelationsSpecialist JoAnn Mastronardi.

CSEA Occupational Safety and Health Specialist JohnBieger conducted his own walk through of the plant, andagreed that workers should not be allowed back in.

Management staff have been the only ones keeping thatsection of the plant in operation. CSEA continues to waitfor the findings of an investigation by the State Departmentof Labor’s PESH Bureau.

Safety Report: Unionkeeps workers out ofunsafe area at S. Tiersewage treatment plantby CSEA Communications Specialist Mark Kotzin

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Safety Reports

In Depth: Why Keep 5 Alive?

by James Jackson, Oswego County Local 838

One of the most important duties orroles of our Region Safety and HealthCommittee is communicating the latesthealth threats or safety-related issues toour members.

When health or safety-related issuesare brought to our committee, a groupdiscussion led by our Occupational Safetyand Health (OSH) Specialist and ourcommittee chair can sometimes steer ustoward a resolution. Quite often this is notthe case, and that’s when we can reach outfor additional resources from CSEA.

CSEA’s Occupational Health andSafety (OSH) Department has becomeinstrumental in solving and or resolvingmany of the issues faced by our membersin both state and local government, andstands at the forefront of both public andprivate sector unions in the education andtraining of our members.

That’s where the communicationsfunction of our Committee comes intoplay. It is our job to not only make ourmembers aware of the health and safety

hazards that other Locals and Units aredealing with, but to report the results ofinvestigations into employer violations ofthe laws or PESH standards and theresolutions that satisfied the concerns ofour members and held the employersaccountable. Finally, it becomes ourobligation to use all of this informationand material to further educate and informour members in an effort to prevent similarissues in the future.

Our Region 5 Safety & Health Com-mittee newsletter Keep 5 Alive! has beenfound to be the best tool for our committeeto relay such information. This valuableresource comes with little cost to CSEAbecause our newsletter is not maileddirectly to members but instead handedout at conferences, included in bulkmailings to Local and Unit presidents, andposted on the Region 5 web site, to allowour leaders to distribute to their member-ship. It has gained statewide recognitionfrom CSEA for its value to our member-ship and leadership. It has also become avaluable tool to assist labor and manage-ment Safety and Health Committees

throughout the Region as a reference andresource.

On a final note, if the Region 5 Health& Safety newsletter sometimes seemsredundant or repetitive, it may be becausesome of our members like to think they’veheard it all before. Please keep in mindthat a vast amount of jobsite accidents andhealth-related hazards happen and arepresent because of complacency at theworksite and the lack of health and safetyeducation at our places of employment.

Our members deserve the best when itcomes to safety in the workplace and theRegion 5 Safety & Health Committee iscommitted to “Keeping 5 Alive” andcontinuing our newsletter to remain oneof the best informational tools availableto our Region and Statewide membersalike.

The role of our Safety & Health Committee and newsletter

CSEA Local 611 at SUNY Oswego isstill struggling to get management todevelop a Workplace Violence Preventionplan to comply with the state’s WorkplaceSecurity Act. Since our original siteinspection/risk evaluation walk through inthe summer of 2009, the campus has addedfacilities, including: a 111,492 sq. ft.campus center complex; a 12 townhouseapartment complex; and the SUNY OswegoMetro Center located in downtown Syra-cuse.

Management has not scheduled anupdated walk through and hazard assess-ment review to include these facilities.There has been no review of incidentreports with authorized employee involve-

ment, no annual review of our workplaceviolence prevention policy, and to date, wedo not have a workplace violence preven-tion training program in place.

Recently, CSEA filed a PESH com-plaint, and we just received a call inresponse from the State Department ofLabor. We were told that since our requeststo management for compliance to the DOLregulation were in the form of minutes fromour monthly Labor/Management meetings,they would be unable to perform aninspection and would void our complaint.We were advised that before we could filea new complaint, we needed to documentformal, specific requests to review thecampus’ hazard assessment, their WPV

policy, their incident reports and theimplementation of an annual trainingprogram. We need to give a reasonableamount of time for them to reply beforefiling a complaint. In other words,eventhough SUNY Oswego is nearly threeyears behind in compliance, we need togive them a "reasonable" chance beforewe can get any assistance from theDepartment of Labor.

Safety Report: SUNY Oswegoby Andy Salvagni, SUNY Oswego Local 611 Safety Committee Chair

Region 5 Safety & HealthCommittee Members

We need toknow!

Keep 5 Alive Spring 2012

Joe Miceli, Chair, SUNY Oswego.............................................................(315) 312-2732Donald Lynskey, Regional Advisor..........................................................(315) 794-8802King Davis, Syracuse State Employees....................................................(315) 423-1274Ronald Doughty, Upstate Medical University.........................................(315) 464-4351Brenda Harwood, Jefferson County.........................................................(315) 785-7775James Jackson, Oswego County................................................................(315) 341-2906Athena Manley, Otsego County................................................................(607) 432-4800Dan Markowski, Madison County............................................................(315) 684-3161Don Meenan, CNY DDSO.........................................................................(315) 383-8970Linda Park, Onondaga County.................................................................(315) 435-3280Tom Reed, Broome DDSO.........................................................................(607) 237-3304Natalie Spilman, Region 5 Judiciary........................................................(315) 379-2219Jennifer Struble, Greater Binghamton Health Center..........................(607) 773-4625Karen Tisci, Southern Tier State Employees..........................................(607) 741-4414Julie Young, SUNY Oneonta.................................................................(607) 610-4112

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If you come across aserious workplace hazard

or have any type ofemergency situation

arise that has orcould jeopardize thesafety of CSEA

members, you shouldimmediately notify your

nearest CSEA Officer, andrequest that they immediately report thesituation to CSEA’s OccupationalSafety and Health Department.

CSEA can most effectively respondto emergency situations and protect yoursafety with prompt notification. Thisallows us to assess the situation and tohopefully addressproblems beforeanyone is hurt.

The CSEA OSHDepartment can bereached at (800) 342-4146, ext. 1464.

CSEA Region 5 honored for Workplace Violence focusSYRACUSE – CSEA Central Region

President Colleen Wheaton said she washonored recently to accept an award for ourRegion’s attention to workplace violenceprevention.

At a Workers Memorial Daycommemoration and “Unity Breakfast”cosponsored by the Greater Syracuse LaborCouncil, the Area Labor Federation andOSHA, the Occupational Health ClinicalCenters (OHCC) honored CSEA Region 5with an award for our “exemplary andtireless efforts in the prevention ofworkplace violence.” Dr. Michael Lax,medical director of OHCC presented theaward to Wheaton.

“Your union has continued to set thestandard for valuing the lives of each andevery member, with vigorous health andsafety committees, serious and effectivepublic education campaigns, and a steadfast

focus on prevention of workplace injuriesand fatalities,” Dr. Lax said.

The OHCC is part of a network of 11worker-focused medical clinics created in1987, the culmination of a two-yearcampaign by organized labor, public healthadvocates and the New York Committeefor Occupational Safety and Health(NYCOSH). They recognized that manyworkers were needlessly suffering fromhighly preventable occupational diseases.When workers in Central New York knowor suspect their symptoms are work-related,they can visit clinics based in Syracuse,Canton or Binghamton.

“We are honored to accept this award,and we do so in memory of all those we’velost due to workplace violence, butespecially this year, in memory of PhyllisCaslin, Nancy Wheeler, Denise Miller VanAmburg and Florence Pike from the

Schuyler County Department of SocialServices, whose needless deaths twentyyears ago this fall sparked our renewedcommitment to pass New York’sWorkplace Security Act. It took long yearsand hard work to get it passed, but we arejust now starting to see where we canstrengthen enforcement at workplaces tobetter protect our members and the publicat large,” Wheaton said.

Note: The Safety & Health Committee has recently undergone a reorganizationfollowing our officer elections, and we are currently seeking additional activists tobe appointed by their presidents who have a commitment to safety and health issues.Committee nomination forms are available by calling the Region Office at (800)559-7975.

OHCC Medical Director Dr. Michael Laxpresents the award to Region PresidentColleen Wheaton.