HEALTH & SAFETY
Assembly report on OCFS echoes PEF’s concerns
BY DEBORAH A. MILES
A state Assembly report released in
May revealed a 42 percent increase in assaults on staff at the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), which runs 25 juvenile justice facilities in New York. The spike in the number of assaults
was based on Workers’ Compensation claims filed between 2007 and 2009. Direct workers’ compensation costs increased $1 million, the equivalent of 72 full-time employees being out of work for one year. PEF President Ken Brynien, who was
on the governor’s task force on transforming the state’s juvenile justice system, said PEF supports many of the recommendations in the report and has advocated for them for more than a decade. The report found OCFS delayed in
implementing a workplace violence prevention program mandated by New York state law, while the agency rapidly implemented the new sanctuary model reform policies. OCFS also had not completed the
“facility-specific” risk assessments, determinations and related staff training required by the Workplace Violence Prevention Law and regulations. “Completing the risk assessments
should not be a paperwork exercise. The point is to use the information to implement interventions to reduce the epidemic of violence in facilities,” Brynien said. The report indicates one-third of
juveniles initially placed at less-secure community-based non-profit facilities end up being relocated to more secure facilities. “The fact violence is on the upswing is a
sign not all aspects of OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrion’s reform program are working,” Brynien said. “The Assembly report should be a wake-up call. People are getting badly injured on a daily basis and that must be taken seriously.” The report notes trauma support
programs for assaulted employees are lacking at OCFS facilities and recommends establishing them. It also offers recommendations, such as
requiring OCFS to immediately complete its workplace violence prevention plan, to reduce the number of staff assaults. “For the past three years,
Commissioner Carrion has had an opportunity to lead the juvenile justice system to a new level. Unfortunately for the troubled youths in the system and the people who work at the facilities, OCFS has suffered under her lack of leadership and misguided agenda,” Brynien said.
“PEF is pleased members of the
Assembly have reviewed the situation within OCFS. We urge legislative leaders to proceed with caution and put the best interest of our troubled youths and the safety of our communities and staff ahead of the personal agenda of Commissioner Carrion,” Brynien said. The report has already resulted in some
progress. In an April 23 letter to Assembly
Member Rory Lancman, chairman of the Assembly Subcommittee on Workplace Safety, OCFS Executive Deputy Commissioner William T. Gettman Jr said OCFS is now working closely with union partners to address these issues. “One of the report’s recommendations
is that our agency immediately complete the statutorily mandated Workplace Violence Prevention Program Risk Assessment Tool. I am pleased to report all 25 juvenile justice residential centers have submitted their risk assessments to the central office. We also have conducted 1,800 training sessions on workplace violence prevention,” Gettman said. The agency also has reached out to its
employees’ unions to work on developing a trauma response program. Brynien said this is a step in the right
direction, but risk assessment in itself doesn’t stop the violence.
Uniting to end workers’ deaths, injuries
“This was the worst mining disaster in
BY DEBORAH A. MILES
Each year on Workers Memorial Day,
April 28, working people throughout the world remember those who were hurt or killed on the job. As in past years, PEF leaders held a
service in front of the PEF monument in Albany. “Today, we have gathered to remember
our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives, and to fight for safe workplaces,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. He spoke about two parole officers:
Jeffrey Woolson, who lost his life on an icy road in March 2009, and Samuel Salters, who recently was shot in the shoulder at his desk in downtown Brooklyn. He is still recovering from the incident. “One of the most important issues we
have now is the safety of our parole officers, visitors and other parolees,” Brynien said. He also spoke of the 29 miners who
were killed in April in a horrific methane explosion at the Massey Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia.
Page 12—The Communicator June 2010
IN OBSERVANCE—PEF leaders and staff gather at the PEFmonument in Latham onWorkers Memorial Day.
—Photo by PaulMurphy
PEF Information Line: 1-800-553-2445
the United States in 40 years,” Brynien said. “And just a few days before the Massey disaster, an explosion at the Tesoro Refinery in Anacortes, WA killed six workers. In February, in a gas explosion at the Kleen Energy Plant in Middletown, CT six workers lost their lives. In less than three months, 41 U.S. workers were killed in three major industrial disasters. “Our prayers and thoughts are with the
families of those who lost their lives,” Brynien said. PEF Secretary-Treasurer Arlea Igoe and PEF Vice President Tom Comanzo
also spoke about how enforcement and penalties need to be more than a slap on the wrist and how employers must be held accountable for injuring and killing workers. “Workers need to be able to raise
concerns about job safety, and report injuries without fear of discrimination or retaliation,” Igoe said. PEF Region 8 Coordinator Bill Wurster
also asked the 50 people present to remember Lou Matrazzo, the former Region 8 coordinator who died last year of heart failure. A moment of silence was observed for everyone lost and injured.
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