|
For an index
of NYCOSH in the News, click here.
- Schools
need construction guidelines. Eastchester local hires hygienist
to check lead levels
- New York Teacher, November 3, 1997
- N.Y.
Safety Group Delivers Broadside to United Parcel - CTD News, November 1997
- At the
end of their rope: That's where a small Adirondack school was
until the union sparked a safety crusade - New York Teacher, October 6, 1997
- Health
Education Awards - DOH
News, April 9, 1997
- Sick
Days at Work
- Environmental Health Perspectives, October 1996
- Hurt
On The Job: Injured Employees Are Covered by Worker's Comp, but
System May Be in for Overhaul
- Newsday, June 2, 1996
- Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire Site is National Historic Landmark - Cultural Resources Management, August
1994

Schools
need construction guidelines. Eastchester local hires hygienist
to check lead levels
Van Dyke
NEW YORK TEACHER
November 3, 1997
http://www.nysut.org/newyorkteacher/backissues/1997-1998/971103safety.html
New York State
United Teachers is devising guidelines for local unions to protect
staff and students at school construction sites. A lead scare
in Eastchester shows why the move is necessary.
In late August,
industrial hygienist Ed Olmsted found significantly high levels
of lead in dust in several areas of the Westchester County district's
high school. The dust covered floors and bookshelves in the library,
coated plates and cups in the teachers lunchroom, and seeped
into lockers.
Olmsted said
most of the lead came from paint on walls demolished in renovations
that continued into the new school year. Three of the seven coats
of paint in the building were applied prior to 1975, when paint
contained lead.
The Eastchester
Teachers Association hired Olmsted to inspect the school after
it heard about flying dust, loose asbestos, and careless workers.
The local said students and staff have complained of itchy eyes,
dizziness and colds since school began.
"You can
find lead everywhere," said Olmsted, "but the dust
in Eastchester is much higher than the guidelines recommend."
He said builders
apparently took few precautions to contain the dust. "Carpeting
had an inch of debris on it," he said. "They worked
as if no one were ever returning to the site."
Getting action
The ETA's health
and safety committee and the Eastchester Administrators Association
are working to persuade the district to take seriously the lead
and and other health concerns.
"Their response
was too little too late," said Robert Liftig, who chairs
the ETA's committee along with Regina Moynihan. "Their answer
was to wipe down the lockers."
The district
also summoned a BOCES environmental expert. But Liftig thinks
she soft-pedaled, not wanting to panic people. Since Olmsted's
site visit, the district has banned testing or inspections without
its permission.
The ETA alerted
area health agencies, which acknowledged there are health and
safety problems in the district but claimed they do not have
jurisdiction.
Ellen Bittner,
ETA president, said the district doesn't want the public informed
about the problems and isn't taking them as seriously as it should.
"I'd like to see immediate attention to those areas that
present a hazard or a danger, and see a plan of maintenance,"
she said. "We have a wonderful maintenance staff, but we
don't have an ongoing process that ensures repairs are done so
conditions don't reoccur."
She said all
the schools have health and safety problems. Greenvale Elementary,
for example, has barrels in the hallway to catch rainwater. Tiles
are missing and floors buckling. Recently, a sewage backup forced
evacuation of first-graders.
Guidelines needed
Denial
is typical in district administrations, observed Joel Shufro,
executive director of the New York Committee on Occupational
Safety and Health. "Administrators try to avoid scaring
parents. So they keep people in the dark instead of involving
the parties from the outset of construction projects," said
Shufro. "Then all hell breaks loose. There needs to be a
protocol developed for districts doing construction, so they
prevent unnecessary exposure."
NYCOSH
inspects worksites and provides health and safety training throughout
Long Island, New York City and parts of the Hudson River region.
Shufro
and Olmsted said Eastchester is a timely case in point. If voters
on Nov. 4 pass a $2.4 billion school bond act, the pace of renovations
will accelerate.
NYSUT's Safety
and Health Task Force has been considering construction guidelines.
This month, the task force will review standard language in the
contract of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City.
Task Force Chairwoman
Catherine Davenport, a UFT special representative, said, "It's
a nightmare whenever there's construction. But it has to be done."
Before contracts
are set, she explained, a protocol meeting is held involving
representatives for the UFT, maintenance workers, parents, the
construction agency and contractors. They specify such things
as work times, supervision, dust containment, noise provisions,
and security. (See information box, above right.)
"Noise and
dust are the big concerns," said Davenport. "We make
sure, for example, that noise doesn't interfere with class work
and tests."
The 'lost hour'
In Eastchester,
art teacher Randey Gordon worries about winter's onset. That's
when a suspect gas heater in his office will kick in.
"I don't
want to lose another hour of my life ... or worse," he said.
Last year Gordon
was "out" for an hour after he arrived early one morning
and began some paperwork. "I awoke in a daze. Classes had
begun. Students said they banged on my door, but I never heard
them. Aides said I didn't look well. My blood pressure was low."
Gordon now runs
a fan in his office. The district eventually provided a carbon
monoxide meter, which recently registered a high reading. "They
told me I should keep my door open," Gordon said. "I'm
just hoping there won't be a 'next time.'"

N.Y.
Safety Group Delivers Broadside to United Parcel
CTD NEWS
November 1997
http://www.ctdnews.com/past_issues/1997-11.html
Charging
the world's largest package delivery service with "waging
a multimillion dollar campaign to cripple federal protection
of workers' safety," the New York Committee for Occupational
Safety and Health (NYCOSH) has launched an offensive against
UPS for its anti-OSHA and anti-ergonomics efforts.
In a 65-page
report, "UPS's Stealth Campaign Against OSHA," the
nonprofit job safety organization in New York City claims "UPS
has bankrolled scientists, academics and think tanks, enlisting
their services in a fight to prevent OSHA from developing an
ergonomics standard."
While many
of the activities steered or executed by UPS have been documented
before, NYCOSH's efforts represents one of the first organized
and direct counters to an ongoing effort by several national
business organizations to raise doubts and questions about a
planned national ergonomics standard. UPS is a member of many
of those groups.

At the end of
their rope: That's where a small Adirondack school was until
the union sparked a safety crusade.
NEW YORK TEACHER
October 6, 1997
http://www.nysut.org/newyorkteacher/backissues/
1997-1998/971006safety.html
While arranging
for photographs to illustrate this report, Gary Hajeris, Adirondack
Central School Teachers Association's recently retired president,
made one thing clear to New York Teacher:
"No one
will go out on that rope ladder for you," Hajeris said.
"No one's been on that ladder in years."
Yet that ladder,
hung from the third-floor window of a classroom in the district's
K-8 building, would have been the only means of evacuation for
the seventh-graders in that room. In the event of an emergency,
it wouldn't even have gotten them to the ground floor: The rope
ladder would drop them only to the gymnasium roof. From there
they would have had to jump -- a disaster waiting to happen.
But that ladder
and other safety hazards in the 74-year-old structure for 900
elementary and middle-school students have been removed. Alternate
escape plans have been devised.
Thanks to the
efforts and determination of the teachers' local, which worked
with a community coalition, the district is planning a new middle
school, plus renovations at the K-8 building in Boonville and
at the district's two separate elementary buildings.
What's most impressive,
say those involved, is that the Community Coalition for a Safe
School championed the rebuilding effort in the midst of heated
opposition and criticism from factions that opposed any tax increases
needed for school buildings.
Coalition alerts
community
Concerns about
fire hazards heated up last year after someone set fire to a
lavatory towel dispenser and smoke filled the junior high's third
floor. The incident drew attention to several potentially dangerous
fire hazards, such as the lack of properly enclosed stairwells
for escape routes.
The rope ladder
was attached to eye bolts screwed into the window's frame. That
rig could support only 200 pounds.
Kenneth Reese,
fire chief at the time in the town 25 miles north of Utica, had
two children attending the school. He said, "It would be
nearly impossible to perform a mass rescue in a major fire."
A fact-finding
meeting of ACSTA led to the formation of a health and safety
task force, which then worked with concerned parents to form
the community coalition, whose chairwoman was parent Lori Woodworth.
The coalition
identified problems and published a newsletter that detailed
more than a dozen safety concerns, including:
- lack of an evacuation
plan for handicapped students;
- more than 91,000
square feet of asbestos-bearing surfaces in 139 sections of the
building;
- dangerous wiring
problems; and
- falling plaster;
more than 40 square feet of plaster ceiling had fallen onto the
auditorium stage.
During the fact-finding
phase, teacher Al Grenning learned that the school building passed
previous inspections by local fire officials, but in several
instances met only the letter of the law, or had been grandfathered
in under less rigorous codes.
The district
alerted the State Education Department's chief architect about
the hazards. The SED pulled the school's certificate of occupancy,
gave the building a temporary certificate, and directed officials
to hire an architect to inspect the building and devise a plan.
This left the
district with two options: either seek short-term fixes for a
few hundred thousand dollars or propose a building and repair
bond.
Taking the 'high
road'
Passing a school
bond wouldn't be easy, the coalition knew. Critics questioned
the need for concern since the building had passed inspections.
A letter to the school board from former students said the school
was good enough for them, so it should be good enough for today's
students. The previous year, voters had defeated by a 2-to-1
ratio a bond proposal to construct a new building.
In the midst
of the controversy, a resident who claimed the bond supporters
were "tax-and-spend liberals" decided to run against
a board incumbent who supported the bond.
Despite all this,
the coalition garnered much support. This groundswell was reflected
by the school board, whose members then voted unanimously to
propose an $18.5-million renovation bond initiative. The money
would pay for a new 6-8 middle school attached to the high school,
renovate the current junior high building for offices and renovate
the district's other two schools. Costs to taxpayers would be
nil, the coalition pointed out, because state building aid covers
more than 90 percent of costs and the district would save by
moving offices into the renovated building.
Given the politically
fraught situation, Hajeris said the coalition decided to take
the high road rather than get bogged down in the local politics
of a tax-and-spending dispute.
"We decided
to put the safety issue with the community by taking away the
argument that the district has done everything required under
the law," Hajeris explained. "I have an '85 Oldsmobile.
Sure, it'll pass inspection, but I wouldn't want to drive it
a lot."
The coalition
worked to identify voters with a stake in the bond issue, rather
than trying to persuade those who opposed it. The coalition did
not get involved in the budget vote or in the school board election,
although the ACSTA supported the school board incumbent.
The strategy
paid off. The bond passed by 2-to-1. Voters re-elected the pro-education
school board incumbent and also passed a budget that had a 3
percent tax increase.
Coalition chairwoman
Woodworth said the challenge was keeping the focus on the safety
issue. "Critics questioned the coalition's motives and whether
spending was necessary. We had to maintain our integrity and
stick to the issues. We also had to deal with community apathy,"
said Woodworth, who has two children in school and two more who
will be entering.
The local union
continues working to enhance its community relations. "We've
shown teachers can be an influence in the community when we stand
together and work together," said Bill Morgan, who became
the local's president after Hajeris retired. "But we know
we can't do it on our own. With the help of parents and other
community members, we did effect a change."
Are schools
safer - or are standards slipping?
At first glance,
it looks like good news: The state Labor Department's latest
figures indicate that health and safety violations in the public
sector dropped 53 percent from 1994 to 1995.
But does this
drop signal safer workplaces for public employees?
Some state officials
would make that link. But public employee unions, including New
York State United Teachers, think the decrease stems not from
safer workplaces, but from the Labor Department's softer stance
on employer violations.
The department
has preferred "consultation" with employers rather
than aggressive enforcement of fines for violations of the Public
Employees Safety and Health Standards Act. Rather than levying
fines, PESH inspectors give employers latitude to come into compliance
when violations are found. Fines have been reduced and often
go uncollected.
John Sweeney,
who recently left his post as state labor commissioner, thinks
the new strategy works. Sweeney said last spring at an Assembly
hearing on enforcement of the PESH act, "The question should
not be 'How much did you collect?' but 'How much did you achieve
in order to prevent collection in the first place?'"
He pointed out
that the illness and injury rates for state workers between 1992
and 1995 declined 19 percent in the most serious cases where
people lost days from work: 6.9 per 100 workers in 1992, 5.8
for 1993, and 5.7 in 1994.
One caution on
the numbers. The 1992 data were calculated from a universe of
workers, while the 1993 and 1994 figures were drawn from a statistically
representative sample, explained Marie Flom of the Labor Department's
division of research and statistics. "But that doesn't necessarily
endanger or qualify the quality of the numbers," she said.
Labor Department
spokesperson John Bishop said the drop stems from the department's
new stress on teaching employers about compliance and how to
achieve it.
Penalties produce
results
Union leaders
and experts in workplace safety contend that employers respond
best to inspections and penalties. "School districts were
no more likely to be in compliance with the law in 1996 than
in 1994," said Jan Conti, NYSUT's training director, who
testified for the union at the Assembly hearing. "In fact,"
she continued, "given the deteriorating condition of schools
throughout the state, we believe that working conditions for
our members and their students have become more hazardous."
Comptroller H.
Carl McCall said an audit of the Department of Labor showed that
PESH inspections dropped 18 percent between 1993 and 1996, and
that only a fraction of the fines have been collected.
All of this runs
contrary to the law's intent, observed Joel Shufro, director
of the New York Committee on Safety and Health in New York City.
He noted that PESH's intent was to get first-instance penalties
as a way to motivate employers to stay in compliance before accidents
happened.
Ed Olmstead,
an industrial hygienist, said school districts tend to overlook
problems if PESH hasn't cited a violation. "You have ventilation
systems that aren't maintained or don't work. Because there isn't
an air-quality standard to cover this, no one gets cited."
Seeking solutions
NYSUT Executive
Vice President Alan Lubin said the union wants to work with the
Labor Department to address such issues, which include establishing
standards for air quality. "We are asking our students to
work to higher standards, and that's as it should be," Lubin
said. "But it should also be a given that our schools are
safe and hazard-free."
NYSUT worked
with a coalition of unions to develop standards requiring employers
to develop a hazard assessment and a security plan. The proposal
was accepted by the Hazard Abatement Board in 1994, but the Labor
Department has not yet promulgated standards, despite protests
by the state AFL-CIO.
Delegates to
NYSUT's 1997 Representative Assembly urged the union to continue
fighting hard on safety issues.
They've seen
it
Barbara Schatzman,
who coordinates health and safety efforts of the Bellport Teachers
Association on Long Island, has fought air quality battles. The
union's insistence compelled the district to test air quality
in 110 rooms where the BTA's health and safety committee documented
higher rates of respiratory and eye problems. Tests by a private
firm found problems; rooms were cleaned and filters in ventilators
were changed, although some problems remain.
Schatzman said
the school board, as a result of community interest, established
an indoor air quality task force that includes parents, administrators,
and union representatives. Now it's creating a master plan to
monitor and fix problems.
"What we
need is an agency that will tell us what the problems are and
how we should take care of them," said Schatzman. "If
I monitor a situation for two years, I don't want to be then
told to 'consult' with management and to monitor it for another
year."
Bond act would
help crumbling schools
New York State
United Teachers, whose field staff assisted the Adirondack Central
School Teachers Association in their safety campaign, is a strong
advocate at the state level for ensuring that students and staff
have safe environments for learning. The union supports the $2.4
billion School Facility Health and Safety Bond Act of 1997. It
will fix crumbling school buildings and will go before voters
Nov. 4. (See
related story.)
In 1994, NYSUT issued a report, School Decay: A Prescription
for Recovery, which drew attention to safety concerns statewide.

Health
Education Awards
DOH News
April 9, 1997
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/press97/phwrel.htm
The State Health Department today presented awards to eight public
health programs as part of New York State's 17th annual Health
Education Awards ceremony. The ceremony, part of Public Health
Week in New York, celebrated the contributions of schools, community
partnerships and health care providers in providing high-quality
preventive health services to New Yorkers.
"Effective
public health programs utilize the broad partnerships available
in our communities," said State Health Commissioner Barbara
A. DeBuono, M.D. "Schools, civic groups, businesses, labor
and the media all have a role to play in improving the quality
of our lives. Each one of these programs exemplifies this type
of community collaboration."
Programs receiving
awards were:
For Excellence
in Health Education Programming:
The Cornell Cooperative
Extension of Nassau County for its "Healthy Heart Snack
Choices Initiative." Since July 1994, the program has involved
children and parents in food-related learning activities and
has reached more than 4,000 children in 41 child care programs
in Nassau County.
The Edmund W.
Miles Middle School of Amityville, Long Island for its AIDS Education
Program. The school has taught adolescents about HIV and AIDS
and has involved students in activities to help them understand
and support people with AIDS. Students have volunteered their
services to local HIV/AIDS community organizations and have adopted
local families affected by the disease.
For Outstanding
Health Education Programming:
The Asthma Education
program of the Lutheran Medical Center's Sunset Park Family Health
Center Network of Brooklyn. To meet an increase in the incidence
of asthma in the community, the network established a task force
of nurse case managers and health educators who focus on the
needs of asthma patients and their families.
The New
York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. The Committee,
a non-profit coalition of more than 200 local unions and 400
physicians, lawyers, public health professionals, has provided
training and education programs in response to a wide variety
occupational health hazards.
For Meritorious
Health Education Programming:
The Dutchess
County Department of Health for its Youth Violence Prevention
Coalition. The Coalition, utilizing the skills and experience
of educators, medical professionals, criminal justice experts,
church leaders, youth and concerned citizens, has implemented
alternative activities for youth and advocated prevention measures
that teach youth to resolve conflict in non-violent ways.
The Samaritans
of the Capital District for a volunteer-staffed suicide education
initiative for students. The initiative includes a training program,
on-site education programs in local schools, publications, and
a confidential helpline youth can contact in times of crisis.
The Ramapo Central
School District (Rockland County) for its health education program.
The program has been a driving force behind the expansion and
integration of health education into many facets of student lives.
The Rochester
General Hospital for its diabetes heath outreach and education
program among Hispanics living in the Rochester area. The program
features culturally sensitive education programs and support
groups for Hispanics with diabetes, enhanced accessibility to
health care through outreach programs, and blood glucose screenings
for local residents.

Sick Days at
Work
By Kathryn S.
Brown
Environmental Health Perspectives
October 1996
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1996/104-10/focus.html
Early in her medical career, Rebecca Bascom became puzzled by
a stream of patients complaining of respiratory problems. Bascom,
a pulmonary specialist, ran standard lung tests on these patients,
whose lungs, surprisingly, seemed to function normally. "With
everybody I had seen before . . . I knew the tests to order,
the way to treat them," recalls Bascom, now director of
the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Environmental
Research Facility. "With this group, there just wasn't any
[test] that seemed to work." It turns out Bascom's patients
were being made ill by substances in the air in their offices.
These patients were among the first wave of office workers to
complain of a set of symptoms that is now referred to as sick
building syndrome (SBS).
According to the World Health Organization, up to 30% of new
and remodeled buildings worldwide contain enough pollutants to
make workers ill. Asbestos, radon, and environmental tobacco
smoke can cause lung cancer or chronic pulmonary disease. And
pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and bioaerosols--airborne
particles emitted by fungi and bacteria--may be causing equally
hazardous, though less well-understood, illnesses. Scientists
have identified more than 1,500 indoor air pollutants from sources
such as carpets, photocopiers, and ventilation ducts.
Researchers suggest that symptoms of SBS result from a complex,
hard-to-study blend of pollutants that affects individuals differently.
In response, scientists are wielding a range of research tools--from
epidemiology studies to air chamber studies--to solve the indoor
air pollution problem.
A Growing Concern
The problem of indoor pollution has generated concern among the
scientific community around the world. This past July, indoor
air researchers met in Japan at the Seventh International Conference
on Indoor Air Quality and Climate to discuss the latest research
on the topic. Next year, the National Institutes of Health will
host the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate's
Fifth Conference on Healthy Buildings, which brings together
physicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, and engineers who
specialize in indoor air quality.
In the United States, up to 21 million employees are exposed
to poor indoor air quality, according to the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration. Several major office buildings have
recently made headlines by being diagnosed as "sick."
At a New York office used by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, environmental investigators found high levels of carbon
monoxide that forced more than 700 workers into temporary quarters.
At Boston's Suffolk County Courthouse, a fume-emitting waterproofing
compound caused over 800 employees to move to makeshift offices
elsewhere. And in Washington, D.C., health investigators discovered
toxic fungi and poor ventilation in the Department of Transportation's
headquarters. Again, workers had to evacuate.
Jim Young, a spokesperson for the New York Committee for Occupational
Safety and Health (NYCOSH), a nonprofit advocacy group for workers,
says he receives about 300 telephone calls a month from workers
worried about their health. The majority of these calls, he says,
involve indoor pollutants. "Indoor air quality is probably
the most prevalent occupational health problem that we hear about,"
Young says. "There have just been more and more calls over
time."
Researchers trace a rise in indoor air pollution to the 1970s
when the energy crisis dictated a cut in air-handling costs.
In 1973, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and
Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) reduced the professional
standard for the minimum amount of outdoor air brought into buildings
by 70%. In the past, office employees had received 20-30 cubic
feet of outdoor air per minute per person (cfm/p). The 1973 recommendation
called for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC)
systems to provide a minimum of just 5 cfm/p of outdoor air.
This outdoor air cutback accompanied a gradual rise in the use
of photocopiers, laser printers, personal computers, and other
equipment that may release chemical fumes. What's more, architectural
designs changed and sealed windows, wall-to-wall carpeting, and
fiberglass or particle board materials that may also contribute
to the problem were increasingly used in buildings.
Researchers say that lower ventilation rates combined with increased
exposure to indoor pollutants might explain the rash of SBS-type
illnesses.
According to the EPA, most Americans spend up to 90% of their
time indoors, whether at the office or home. The EPA also suggests
many indoor pollutants are concentrated at levels 2-5 times higher
than outdoor levels. Other researchers suggest that psychological
factors associated with the work environment including monotonization,
loss of privacy, electronic monitoring of productivity, a faster
work pace, and bad management practices may also play a role
by increasing worker stress and compounding awareness of symptoms.
Too Little Data
Still, despite the statistics and plausible explanations, studies
of hazardous buildings suffer from a lack of data as well as
disagreements over sampling techniques, exposure assessments,
and nomenclature.
"Think of it this way," says John Spengler, a professor
of environmental science and physiology at Harvard University,
"when you're doing classic epidemiology, you may have to
control a lot of variables, but you're still just making observations
about individuals or groups of individuals. When you talk about
buildings, you expand the inherent variability. You have to consider
stress, job dissatisfaction, vibration, noise, lighting. There
are so many factors that it's much more difficult to study. So
there has yet to be a 1,000-building study."
Understanding and fixing indoor air pollution problems hasn't
been as easy as researchers hoped. "Ten years ago, as epidemiologists
we anticipated that we would figure out the causes [of SBS] by
studying the atmosphere in buildings and diagnosing the probability
[of illness] by knowing what's in the air," remarks Michael
Hodgson, an associate professor of occupational and environmental
medicine at the University of Connecticut. "But that has
not worked because of limitations in our study designs, sampling
frames, and exposure assessment strategies." Simply increasing
ventilation rates, for example, hasn't solved the problem in
every instance, although studies show that symptoms do improve
when rates are increased from the current professional design
standard of 25 cfm/p of outdoor air to 50cfm/p. In 1990, ASHRAE
modified its ventilation guidelines, recommending that building
owners return outdoor air flow rates to around 20 cfm/p. Still,
indoor air pollution complaints continue.
Ongoing uncertainty leaves builders and engineers without any
indoor air regulatory standards to follow, notes Hillel Koren,
director of the human studies division at the EPA's National
Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory. "It
would be very difficult, at this point, to create [regulatory
standards]," Koren says. "In outdoor pollutants, like
ozone, there are ambient national quality standards and a scientific
database. In indoor air, we are at an early stage of establishing,
characterizing, and developing good biomarkers and endpoints.
Here, we are just getting started." Still, Hodgson argues
that regulatory standards have always lagged behind good professional
standards and that adoption of the ASHRAE standard would solve
a lot of the health complaints.
A Volatile Situation
At first, Mary Ann Mazzella, an administrative aide at New York
University, began suffering from headaches. Then she began to
have sinus problems. Soon she noticed she was feeling lethargic.
Eventually, on hot days, she got so nauseous at the office that
she'd call it quits and head home early. "I never got to
the point where I was seriously ill," says Mazzella, "but
I felt terrible."
With help from her local union, Mazzella got her office building's
blueprints and surmised the source of her misery: industrial
fumes and poor ventilation. "I work in a renovated factory
building," Mazzella says. "We're supposed to have fresh
air ducts every few feet. We don't. We have no windows. And the
air conditioning shuts down for days at a time."
In fact, the photocopying room in Mazzella's building lacked
a filtering system to flush out air rich in VOCs, including formaldehyde
and ozone, which are emitted by photocopiers. This is a common
oversight, according to indoor air researchers. Reporting in
the July 1995 issue of the ASHRAE Journal, Hodgson and colleagues
noted that, "In our experience, complaints around photocopiers
abound, presumably because of ventilation inadequate for the
needs imposed by this particular source."
In addition to
photocopiers, a variety of building equipment and materials including
paint, cleaning compounds, glues, silicone caulking material,
insecticides, laser printers, personal computers, photographic
equipment, fiberglass, and carpeting can give off irritating
chemicals. Like Mazzella, employees affected by this chemical
soup report a number of allergy-like symptoms.
Researchers often classify VOC sources based on how fast their
emissions decline. For example, solid, dry materials like carpet
or particle board are "slow decay" sources, meaning
they strike the air with an initial blast of chemicals, then
emissions slowly fall. Wet products like paints, adhesives, or
waxes are "fast decay" sources that release most of
their chemicals within minutes to days, though VOCs may be emitted
for months or even years.
One wet product to gain attention in recent years is the adhesive
glue used to install some carpets. Such glue can infuse the air
with VOCs such as formaldehyde. Because of these chemicals, manufacturers
recommend that new carpet owners temporarily turn up their ventilation
systems.
Some workers may be more susceptible to VOC emissions than others.
A myriad of factors ranging from noise to harsh lighting can
aggravate symptoms of illness, making employees more aware of
their physiological reactions. Awareness of an unusual odor,
such as one emanating from carpeting, for example, can even make
employees suspicious of air quality that is actually acceptable.
"Smell plays a role because people smell things they don't
expect to and [believe] there must be something wrong,"
explains William Cain, a professor of surgery and head of the
Chemosensory Perception Laboratory at the University of California
at San Diego. "They think that if something smells bad,
it may be bad for you. That really isn't a good toxicological
rule."
Cain is conducting experiments to separate the psychological
effects of odor from measurable nasal inflammation and eye irritation,
which more accurately pinpoint building-induced health problems.
In a recent study to be published in Perception and Psychophysics,
Cain and colleagues administered mixtures of VOCs to two sets
of people: those with a normal sense of smell, and anosmics,
or those without a sense of smell. In both groups of people,
the researchers established threshold levels of physiological
irritation for mixtures of chemicals like ethyl acetate, butanol,
and benzene. "Every organic compound has an odor threshold
and an irritation threshold," says Cain. "At some point
above these thresholds, people can sense irritation. Our work
entails measuring the difference. We use people without a sense
of smell to measure the point where things truly become irritating."
So far, Cain and colleagues have found that the more chemical
compounds that are combined, the more likely they are to cause
physiological reactions. "If you want to be rash, you might
say we get increasing additivity [more reactions between chemicals]
with increasing complexity. You may have nine components in a
study, and the real environment has 100 components. By the time
you get to 100, you really have a tremendously more potent stimulus
than you would predict by just knowing the individual components
involved."
The additivity of VOCs may have foiled many attempts to discern
toxic levels of chemicals in a building. Traditionally, environmental
investigators simply measured the levels of individual airborne
chemicals. But this approach overlooks the interaction between
those chemicals. "The whole theory since the 1930s has operated
on a flawed philosophy that maximum allowable concentrations
were the best way [to measure indoor pollutants]," says
Hodgson. "That helps explain why people have symptoms even
while [equipment] perceives low levels."
Unfortunately, Cain says, research into VOC interaction is technical
and expensive. "The problem is that we've got hundreds of
chemicals. If we're going to talk about health effects that we're
interested in, we've got to begin building the database one chemical
at a time. Looking at the task, it seems almost insurmountable.
But it's the tried-and-true path."
Koren is one researcher willing to travel that path. He and his
colleagues are conducting a number of chamber studies in which
they expose subjects to controlled amounts of VOCs. Using nasal
wash to measure a subject's reactions and ocular examinations,
the scientists can look for objective biological changes that
indicate inflammation. "Our procedures allow us to measure
changes that would lead to irritation and congestion, which are
some of the most prominent complaints of SBS," Koren says.
Rather than build a database one chemical at a time, Koren hopes
to find a model or prototype of VOCs to represent whole families
of compounds with similar structures. "Ideally, once we
find some clinical endpoints, I'd like to work with epidemiologists
who can identify sick buildings, engineers to monitor exposure,
. . . biologists of various disciplines that can analyze whatever
we find," Koren says. "It's got to be the kind of research
that can integrate studies."
Invisible Zoo
Abundant as they may be, VOCs are not the only hazards to inhabit
office air. Fungi, bacteria, viruses, algae, and other microbes
lurk inside air ducts, grow around ceiling tiles, and thrive
on almost any warm, damp surface.
Microbes need only four basic ingredients to survive: organic
nutrients on which to feed, moisture (whether from humid air
or standing water), a surface on which to grow, and darkness.
Fungi usually travel from outdoors into a building, so high concentrations
of mold or fungi occur in buildings surrounded by trees or shrubs.
Once the microbes get inside, they capitalize on the nourishing
environment of indoor humidity, dust, and dirt.
While their living requirements are minimal, microbes' health
effects are quite substantial. Bacteria and fungi can produce
airborne particles called bioaerosols, such as spores or mycotoxins.
These bioaerosols can leave employees with symptoms such as coughing,
headaches, and other allergic reactions. Buildings left vacant
or recently renovated are particularly susceptible to microbe
invasions. Researchers suggest that renovating a building may
increase the concentration of indoor air contaminants 1,000-fold.
Like VOCs, microbial contamination can be difficult to assess
and treat. Current microbiological techniques are very limited,
says Mark Mendell, an epidemiologist with the Cincinnati office
of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
"For one thing," he says, "conventional measurements
typically only measure organisms that will actually grow on culture,
but it is not only the living organisms that can cause problems.
Nonliving spores, or pieces of organisms, or substances released
from organisms can all have health effects, either allergic or
toxic. For example, there are substances called mycotoxins (released
from fungi) and endotoxins (contained in gram-negative bacteria)
that are known to have serious adverse health effects at high
levels in agricultural environments. A variety of evidence now
suggests that both of these may be causing health effects at
high levels in some indoor environments as well, but these substances
are not usually measured indoors."
Koren and others are trying to identify what makes a person susceptible
to irritation from biological contaminants. Koren's microbe research
includes buildings and homes, both of which can host high levels
of fungi and other microbes. Koren is studying interactions between
outdoor and indoor pollutants. "Our question is, does exposure
to outdoor pollutants like ozone increase a person's sensitivity
to [indoor pollutants] like dust mites," Koren says. "We
hope to help other agencies come up with prevention policies
that take into account how the indoor environment fits with the
outdoor environment."
In one experiment, Koren and colleagues exposed asthmatic study
participants sensitive to dust mites to ozone and later to allergens
carried by dust mites found in homes. Results appear to show
that the combined contaminants spur a much stronger asthmatic
reaction than either does alone.
Filling in the Gaps
Because little data exists on VOCs, microbes, and other indoor
pollutants, researchers are furiously working to fill in the
gaps. For example, the EPA's Indoor Air Division is about halfway
through a study of 100 randomly-chosen office buildings across
the United States with the goal of creating basic pollution data
on typical buildings.
"There isn't a lot of information about the quality of air
in office buildings now," explains Susan Womble, an EPA
environmental scientist and manager of the project, called Baseline
Information on Indoor Air Quality in Large Buildings, or BASE.
"So when people investigate sick building syndrome, for
example, they don't have anything to compare their measurements
to."
With the help of 40 experts, the EPA developed a standardized
protocol--including characterization of a building, environmental
monitoring, and questionnaires on health symptoms--with which
to inspect buildings. Scientists have now studied 41 buildings.
Information on the first 13 became available to researchers this
fall. "We expect to use the data for trends and to help
us spot indicators that we should be following up on," Womble
says. "We're hoping that this will also give us some insight
into other studies that we need to target."
Meanwhile, James Woods, an environmental design professor and
director of the Center for Building Health, Safety, and Productivity
at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is working
on a different approach: communication between practitioners.
Because indoor air pollution spans many fields, epidemiology,
microbiology, occupational medicine, and engineering specialists
often find themselves working at cross purposes. Woods explains,
"A clinician is going to approach the problem from the patient's
perspective. A public health person is going to look at preventive
measures. Engineers look at specific buildings. Policy makers
look at sets of buildings. We want to try to get that all together
and be able to address problems."
To bring indoor air specialists together, Woods and colleagues
are planning a 1997 meeting, Healthy Buildings: Global Issues
and Regional Solutions. The conference will be hosted by the
NIH in conjunction with ASHRAE's annual conference. Eventually,
Woods hopes to establish standardized methods of defining, tracking,
and treating buildings that, over time, experience varying rates
of pollution.
"I think awareness [of building pollution] is changing,"
Woods says. "So the social trend is greater demand for improved
performance of buildings. That includes thermal conditions, lighting,
acoustic, and ergonomic factors." Woods notes that such
factors affect employee stress, which in turn aggravates most
health symptoms. "If you address just one of these factors,
the level of stress is not affected well enough. You've got to
address all of them."
While these researchers attempt to refine existing approaches,
others are examining often overlooked pollutants. At Cornell
University, Alan Hedge, a professor of design and environmental
analysis, blames some indoor health complaints on manmade mineral
fibers dropped into the air by ceiling tiles, insulation, and
ventilation systems. In a recent study, Hedge and colleagues
discovered high rates of employee health complaints correlated
with high numbers of manmade mineral fibers in settled dust.
In another study, after installing filter systems that collected
the fibers, Hedge says, the number of complaints plummeted.
Hedge stumbled across the mineral fiber phenomenon while investigating
a building for VOC contamination. "We were inside the building
when one employee said to me 'I'm sure there's something in this
building. I've got an air filter on my desk. Would you take a
look at it?'" Hedge recalls. "I shook the filter out
and looked at some samples on [microscope] slides. I was absolutely
astonished to find samples full of what looked like glass fibers."
Intrigued, Hedge began reading up on mineral fibers. He learned
that in the 1960s--when homes were built using fiberglass in
the linings of ductwork--residents complained of health problems
similar to today's SBS. He also discovered a number of building
practices introduced in the 1970s that might be implicated in
illnesses, such as the use of fiberglass in broad ceiling spaces
or insulation placed inside the ventilation system where mineral
fibers can shred and rain down on employees. "Inhaling [fibers]
is like swallowing a . . . javelin," Hedge says. "If
you swallow them end-ways, they can get quite far. The fiber
pieces are three to eight microns in diameter and up to 30 microns
long. They can cause fiber damage to epithelial cells of your
eyes, nose, and throat." Hedge also believes fibers cause
skin irritation and other symptoms.
Hedge says many researchers, steeped in the study of microbes
or VOCs, have yet to seriously pursue the mineral fiber-illness
relationship. However, researchers in England are working on
similar studies, and Hedge is planning further studies on fibers.
Regulation Unlikely
At least for the time being, enforced regulations on workplace
air quality appear unlikely. The closest policy makers have come
is a 1994 proposal by OSHA that addressed a wide range of pollutants,
including tobacco smoke. The proposed legislation called for
employers to implement and maintain controls for many known pollutants.
The proposal also asked employers to develop indoor air quality
compliance plans and do inspections to make sure those plans
work. While many indoor air researchers and activists supported
the OSHA proposal, even more building owners, managers, and employers
opposed it. "In our period of public comment we received
over 115,000 comments," says Debra Janes, a health scientist
and project manager at OSHA. "It's hard to find anyone who
wants to take responsibility [for indoor air pollution]. And
nobody wants to be cited over something they have no control
over. Say there's a wet photocopier with solvents that are leaking.
The building manager will say, 'That's not related to the building
design. Why should we be responsible?'" Given the blast
of negative responses, Janes says, it will take OSHA "a
while" to review the responses received during the comment
period.
The EPA continues to emphasize voluntary building standards to
prevent indoor air pollutants. "We think there are incentives
for doing it voluntarily," says Elissa Feldman, deputy director
of the EPA's indoor air division. "Some real estate markets
have rentable office space that's overflowing. [Quality indoor
air] is a niche that some building owners could use to their
advantage. It's also true that indoor air costs increasingly
are associated with liability. In a big lawsuit, [the victim]
can go after everybody from the architect to the general contractor
and everybody along the way. Plus, getting a reputation as a
sick building is really death to a marketable property."
The only way to tighten indoor air regulation and improve patients'
diagnoses is to amass a broad collection of studies on poorly
understood pollutants, researchers say. However, says Koren,
"We are experiencing dwinding funding for this important
health issue. There is a great deal of research that has only
begun and that needs to be pursued vigorously to improve our
understanding of the risks associated with the indoor air environment.
And that is our number one goal."

Hurt On The
Job: Injured Employees Are Covered by Worker's Comp, but System
May Be in for Overhaul
By Kenneth C.
Crowe and Craig Gordon
NEWSDAY
June 2, 1996
http://www.productslaw.com/wc1.html
Molten plastic
was injected into the machine, then steel plates slammed down
with a force equal to 2,000 tons. For 18 years it went that way
as Newburgh Molded Products turned out pretty little boxes for
the cosmetics industry - until a hot August night in 1993.
No one is quite
sure what went wrong that night, but when operator Alice Hayes
reached into the plastic-molding machine to take out the finished
boxes, the powerful steel plates crushed her outstretched arms.
Three safety devices, any one of which would have prevented the
machine from slamming shut, had failed to operate.
The accident
resulted in Hayes losing both arms below the elbows and receiving
$4 million in settlement of a lawsuit. Her case has become one
of the centerpieces of the contentious battle over restructuring
New York state's workers' compensation insurance system.
It is a battle
pitting powerful, deep-pocketed interests on both sides - big
business vs. organized labor and Republican vs. Democrat - that
has been going on for more than two decades with little significant
movement. But many Albany insiders believe this year could produce
some changes in workers' comp because two competing proposals
in the state Legislature share the broad themes of seeking savings
for business, increasing weekly benefits for injured workers,
promoting workplace safety and reducing fraud.
"The fact
that this state's economy has been in such bad shape and that
we have been sitting dead in the water and the rest of the country
has been booming since the recovery began is really sinking in,
and both parties are trying to do something about it," said
David Shaffer, spokesman for the state Business Council.
Gov. George Pataki,
the insurance industry and business groups including the Long
Island Association are pressing for legislation to cut the $5-billion
workers' compensation insurance premium tab by about 25 percent
through reforms, including eliminating so-called third-party
lawsuits against employers, and a new approach to providing benefits
to injured workers.
They say New
York's worker compensation costs are 50 percent higher than the
national average and must be reduced to create jobs and attract
new business. They cite examples like that of B.F. Goodrich,
which is moving 150 jobs from an upstate Norwich electrical components
plant to Fort Worth, Texas, because of New York's high business
costs, including workers' comp. To be sure, Goodrich also will
be able to cut its labor costs by moving the jobs from the unionized
Norwich plant to the nonunion factory in Texas.
The cost of workers'
comp "has been a major problem for small businesses like
ours," said Louis Miaritis, owner of the Three Village Inn
in Stony Brook, who pays about $75,000 a year in workers' comp
premiums, or $5 for every $100 he pays in salary.
On the other
side is the 2.5-million-member New York State AFL-CIO, headed
by Edward J. Cleary, which is aligned with the State Trial Lawyers
Association and the New York Committee on Occupational Safety
and Health. They contend the Pataki proposal would shift the
proposed savings from the pockets of injured workers into the
coffers of their employers and insurance companies.
The workers'
compensation system was set up by the state in 1914 so that employees
suffering on-the-job injuries were guaranteed lump-sum or weekly
payments and medical treatment. Workers' comp can cover anything
from a dramatic accident such as Hayes' to minor injuries such
as a strained back.
There are three
sources of workers' comp insurance: Private insurance accounts
for 40 percent of the $5 billion in premiums, and coverage through
the state Insurance Fund accounts for about one-third. The balance
is paid by large corporations that self-insure, or set aside
enough money each year to cover their workers' comp expenses.
An important
part of the system was a no-fault provision that meant workers
would get benefits no matter how the injuries happened, in exchange
for giving up the right to sue their employers over the injuries.
However, that
changed with a 1972 state Court of Appeals decision, Dole vs.
Dow, which has emerged as a central sticking point between this
year's competing proposals. Under Dole vs. Dow, the manufacturer
of a product or machine, sued by an injured worker, can include
the worker's employer as a third party in the suit to share the
blame and the costs of the damages.
Pataki and Republicans
who control the state Senate are pushing for repeal of Dole vs.
Dow, a top business priority, arguing that it would save employers
$220 million to $350 million a year - even though only about
one-third of 1 percent of the 200,000 claims filed each year
result in third-party suits.
Democrats in
the state Assembly and union leaders argue that repealing Dole
would limit workers' abilities to be compensated for injuries.
Democrats say their bill would cut Dole-related costs by up to
40 percent for the safest employers by limiting liability and
setting up a pool to pay out awards above the limits.
Democrats also
say their bill would bring costs down by 20 percent overall,
based on the track records of similar programs in other states,
though Republicans accuse the Democrats of inflating the likely
savings that would come from reducing fraud.
On worker benefits,
the Senate Republican bill, an amended version of Pataki's original
bill that now has the governor's support, would increase benefits
to a maximum of $560 a week over three years, from the current
maximum of $400. The Assembly benefits proposal provides for
increases in years when insurance rates come down by 5 percent
and appears less generous than the Senate's plan, though Democrats
said they considered their proposal the starting point for negotiations.
Labor has long
contended that benefits should be indexed to increases in the
state's average weekly wage. The cap hasn't been raised since
1992.
Alice Hayes'
case is an example of why Dole vs. Dow is significant and why
passions run so deep on both sides.
Hayes had worked
at the factory in upstate Newburgh for 19 years when the accident
occurred at 8:20 p.m. on Aug. 3, 1993. She was a 59-year-old
widow with four grown children, earning $258 a week.
As the machine
moved into its next cycle, opening and releasing her, Hayes turned
to walk away in a state of shock. A supervisor immediately called
the fire department's emergency number, saying Hayes' arms were
"hanging off."
Hayes was taken
to St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, then transferred the same
night to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan, where
surgeons tried to save her arms. The effort ended with both arms
being amputated above the wrists.
Under workers'
comp, Hayes received $171 a week, or two-thirds of her normal
pay. Medical expenses totaling $208,000 were covered by insurance,
also as provided by the workers' comp law.
Hayes, who needs
round-the-clock assistance, sued to get more than the compensation
system provided. Her lawyer, Elliot Tetenbaum, filed a personal
injury suit in federal court in Manhattan against Newbury Industries,
the Newbury, Ohio, company that manufactured the molding machine
in 1975. Tetenbaum contended that Newbury Industries had sold
Newburgh Molded Products a defective machine whose safety devices
failed and lacked an alarm bell to warn the worker of the failures.
In every state
except New York, Hayes' employer would have escaped being included
in her lawsuit because of no-fault provisions. But because of
Dole vs. Dow, Newbury Industries was able to file an action against
Newburgh Molded as a third party. The Ohio company alleged that
Hayes' employer didn't provide safety information about the machine
to its workers, and said the safety devices failed because the
machine was modified and inadequately maintained.
"It was
my position those devices were neglected and not inspected,"
Tetenbaum said.
Newburgh Molded
denied the allegations.
Last October,
just before the case was to come to trial, the insurers for the
two companies settled by agreeing to pay Hayes $4 million. The
Ohio company's share was $500,000, while $3.5 million came from
Newburgh Molded's insurer, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. The settlement
ended Hayes' benefits under workers' comp.
That might have
been the end of the matter. But after Sally Polhamus, the owner
of Newburgh Molded, testified at a state Senate Labor Committee
hearing in February, the Hayes case became something of a cause
celebre for labor.
Polhamus described
the mishap as "a freak accident" and cited Dole vs.
Dow as the reason Hayes was able to obtain a settlement for as
much as $4 million. Polhamus urged repeal of Dole vs. Dow, saying
her company's workers' comp premiums have increased from $40,000
in 1988 to $125,000 each of the past three years.
A state AFL-CIO
staffer at the hearing decided to research the case. Ultimately,
Hayes became a symbol of labor's lobbying effort against Pataki's
effort to change the workers' comp law. Posters and brochures
showing Hayes holding out the stubs of her arms say: "Alice
Hayes' Employer Took Her Hands Away. Now Big Business Wants to
Take Your Rights Away."
Tetenbaum, her
lawyer, said, "For her to permit a photograph of herself
to be used was a real, real gutsy deal. Why? Because she wanted
to help other people. She doesn't want publicity, she doesn't
want to be another Elephant Man. [But] she does not want another
worker not to get redress."
Tetenbaum said
that without Dole vs. Dow, Hayes would have received only $500,000,
the settlement amount paid by the machine's manufacturer.
Cleary, the state
AFL-CIO president and his allies contend that third-party suits
put pressure on insurance companies to encourage employers to
operate safely.
But Pataki staffer
Bob Bellafiore said, "What did it do for Alice Hayes? There
was Dole, and she was subjected to a tragic accident. What is
important is that accidents like these be prevented, which is
what the governor's bill is all about."
The Pataki-Senate
bill provides rate incentives to companies adding safety-improving
technology and requires employers with poor safety records to
improve safety practices or face a surcharge on premiums.
Central to Pataki's
cost-cutting program is replacing the current system of workers'
comp administrative law judges making subjective decisions on
the level of benefits with a new approach: using the American
Medical Association's "Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent
Impairment" to set benefits. The guidelines would be applied
to "permanent partial injuries," with an injured worker
getting up to 700 weeks of benefits on a sliding scale. Existing
workers' comp insurance can provide benefits for life.
"About 38
other states use them [AMA guidelines], and their costs are significantly
lower than New York's," Bellafiore said. "They are
objective standards that insert objectivity and fairness into
a system that right now lacks both." The state Labor Department
estimates that adopting the AMA standards would save employers
between $200 million and $500 million a year.
However, Dr.
Tom Houston, director of preventive medicine for the AMA, said
that Pataki's proposal is a misapplication of the guidelines.
Houston said the guidelines actually are used by only two states,
Tennessee and Colorado, to determine benefit levels.
He sought to
explain why it is difficult to strictly apply the guidelines
to workers' comp cases. "We like to use the example of a
concert pianist and a bank vice president in a car accident,
in which they both lose the first and second fingers of the right
hand. They have exactly the same impairment, but the disability
is quite different. The bank vice president is just fine, but
the concert pianist is pretty much ruined. That's why it is not
proper to take the number from our book."
Fraud is the
one factor that all sides agree should be eliminated from the
system, though no one knows how extensive it is. Pataki would
create a workers' compensation fraud inspector general, backed
by an investigative staff. Assembly Democrats would require insurance
companies to have investigative units and also provide incentives
to safer employers, such as rate credits for employers who use
safety consultants. In both bills, workers' compensation fraud,
now a misdemeanor, would become a Class E felony with a mandatory
prison sentence.
While labor also
wants fraud eliminated, Cleary contends that most of it is attributable
to businesses, not workers. When businesses pay for services
off the books or underreport their payrolls to insurance companies,
they are, in effect, forcing honest employers to bear a larger
part of the cost of the workers' comp system, he said.
All the arguments
aside, Dan Shannon of BH Aircraft Co. in Farmingdale just wants
to see some flexibility introduced into the system. Three years
ago his company acquired Production Cable Industries in Ronkonkoma,
which produces small cable harnesses and assemblies used for
such things as bar-code readers at supermarket checkout counters.
He said the work consists of two shifts of 20 to 25 women putting
the small assemblies together with little risk of injury, but
the insurance rate exceeds $6 per $100 of payroll - the same
as if the workers were in a telephone cable plant.
"It is very
safe work," said Shannon, BH Aircraft's treasurer. "The
rate should probably be about half of that. We've had no workers'
compensation claims. There's a lack of flexibility in setting
up the rates"
Copyright Newsday
1996

Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire Site is National Historic Landmark
By Debra E.Bernhardt
Cultural Resources Management
August 1994
http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/17-1/17-1-12.pdf
Click on any of
the boxes in the left margin to learn more about NYCOSH.
Click here to send
an e-mail message to NYCOSH with comments or suggestions for
additions to this site.
This page was last
updated on January 27, 2002
|