ASK A RESEARCHER

Helpful Websites

Governmental Websites

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/  

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a federal public health agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The agency focuses on minimizing human health risks associated with exposure to hazardous substances.  

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/  

The FMCSA’s primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries.  

https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/  

The National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training is a national resource for hazardous waste worker curricula, technical reports, and weekly news on hazardous materials, waste operations, and emergency response.  

https://www.nhtsa.gov/  

The NHTSA is responsible for keeping people safe on America’s roadways through enforcing vehicle performance standards and partnerships with state and local governments. 

https://www.osha.gov/  

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created by Congress to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. 

https://www.cdc.gov/index.htm  

The CDC serves as the nation’s health protection agency. The CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise. 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/  

NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Department of Health and Human Services. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 established the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a research agency focused on the study of worker safety and health, and empowering employers and workers to create safe and healthy workplaces. 

Associations

https://www.acgih.org/  

The ACGIH is a professional association of industrial hygienists and practitioners of related professions that studies occupational and environmental health issues. 

https://www.aiha.org/  

The AIHA’s overall objective is to help ensure that work-related occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) hazards are anticipated and eliminated or controlled. 

https://www.ansi.org/  

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. ANSI works in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry and government to identify and develop standards- and conformance-based solutions to national and global priorities. 

https://www.apha.org/  

The American Public Health Association champions the health of all people and all communities through advocacy for adoption by the government of the most current scientific advances relevant to public health, and public education on how to improve community health. 

https://www.nfpa.org/en  

The NFPA is devoted to eliminating death, injury, property, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards through the development of codes and standards, innovative research, professional training, public education, and outreach and advocacy. 

https://www.nsc.org/  

The National Safety Council is a mission-based organization focused on eliminating the leading cause of preventable death and injury. 

Labor Movement

https://www.elcosh.org/index.php  

eLCOSH.org was developed (and is maintained by) The Center for Construction Research and Training to provide accurate, user-friendly information about safety and health for construction workers, employers, researchers and others interested in construction safety and health from a wide range of sources worldwide. 

https://lohp.berkeley.edu/ – Home Page

https://lohp.berkeley.edu/collective-bargaining-for-health-and-safety/  – Collective Bargaining Guide

The UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education (Labor Center) is a public service and outreach program of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. The Labor Center conducts research and education on labor and employment issues and works with unions, government, and employers to develop innovative policy perspectives and programs.  

To be quite blunt – local, state, or federal health and safety standards are often inadequate and should be regarded as the minimum standard an employer must meet, if they even exist at all (21 states and several U.S. territories provide no safety and health protections for state, county, or municipal workers).

  • Sometimes, when these standards are developed or voted on, they are done so with heavy input from industry or employers, or using a cost-benefit analysis, or the final standard is agreed up with political or business compromise in mind.

Many hazards are not covered by a health for safety standard (workplace violence, heat illness, ergonomic issues, etc.). Why? See the first bullet.

Most safety and health issues are typically regarded as “conditions of employment” and because of this they are viewed as a ‘mandatory subject of bargaining’, which means the employer must in good faith discuss and bargain on the subject.

  • Due to the ‘mandatory subject of bargaining’ status this allows the union the right to bargain for higher or better health and safety standards, including things that contribute to better safety and health conditions, which can encompass a lot of things (staffing levels, rest/recovery time, physical and psychological protections).

When a contract is in force, the employer cannot make unilateral changes to the working conditions. Should they attempt to do so, the union may demand that the employer ‘bargain’ the change and the employer is not allowed to refuse to do so (but they might try).

When a ‘mandatory subject of bargaining’ is involved, the employer must provide the union with all relevant information on the subject, when the union requests it (e.g. incident reports, complaints, results of testing etc.).

The approach to bargaining for health and safety is no different than bargaining for other conditions, so it is vital to gain the support on the issue from the entire membership, this will allow the union to have a strong and unified voice when sitting down at the bargaining table. some members may not be aware of the hazards they work around. 

When preparing for bargaining:

  • Understand the environment today – Are members afforded any health and safety protections via a bargaining agreement or state OSHA plan? What existing health and safety provisions exist? are they working well? do any aspects of them need strengthening?
  • Identify safety and health issues – Survey members to understand what existing issues they are facing. Has there been changes that introduce new hazards (don’t forget safety and health covers a broad spectrum of issues – staffing levels, working alone, workplace bullying/violence, rest/recovery times)? Have they been trained and given the appropriate resources to deal with these hazards?
  • Set goals – Not all noted issues may be able to be addressed, so goals and priorities will have to be set. When deciding on goals determine if:
    • Did members identify issues that affect many members? Does the issue have a major impact on member health and safety? Does language about the issue exist in the current contract, if yes is that language adequate? Have there been successful or unsuccessful grievances based on this language? Has the union ever attempted to resolve this problem with OSHA or the employer? What happened?
  • Collect information & prepare for sitting down at the table – Are there any best practices or consensus standards on the issues you are facing, this can help with justifying the need for the issue to be addressed. Employers are required to give the union information it needs to prepare for bargaining. The kind of information that should be requested will depend on the issue at hand, some examples of helpful information can be:
    • complaints or grievances related to safety and health (successful and unsuccessful), employer surveys of workers regarding safety and health concerns, records of injuries and illnesses and workers’ compensation cases, records/reports/investigations from local or state.

Take the time to consider what the management likely responses to each of the issues will be and prepare some counter arguments.

  • Keep members informed & involved along the way – Encourage member participation when developing contract campaigns, members may be able to help investigate hazards, interview colleagues, analyze injuries, prepare documentation, evaluate current contracts, train colleagues, and prepare new contract proposals. Members who are or may be affected by the issue should be invited to participate in all stages of the process, this allows for strong participation, and it provides a good training and can only help the union develop experienced personnel.
  • Seek outside support – Are there allies and alliances in the community that can help support the issues raised and who can help campaign? While alliances often are local in scope, they may be much broader, even national, or international. An alliance may be initially established around a single health and safety issue, but later can broaden into ongoing mutual support.

Visit AFSCME’s Contracts Database for contract language on various health and safety topics

The following information is provided as a helpful resource to use when bargaining for specific health and safety topics. This list is by no means exhaustive, so please reach out to us for assistance as you prepare to bargain. 

  • Check to see what health and safety protections you are afforded due to federal, state, or local regulations. A contract should never be less protective than protections already afforded to you.
  • Bullying (insert contract fact sheet)
  • Joint Safety Committee
  • Stop Work Authority
  • Workplace Violence Prevention (insert contract fact sheet)

Contact Us

We are here for you! Please contact us if you have a question, concern, or request regarding a safety and health matter.
healthandsafetytraining@afscme.org