News
Your Work Shouldn't Hurt You

Many NEA members--from bus drivers to teachers--will be affected by new federal ergonomics standards. Take a long look at your own job.

The old way of opening a school bus door (left) can cause a driver injury. An air-opened door opener (right) can prevent it. Ergonomic solutions are that simple.

John Farley was a model employee during his seven years as a bus driver in a Pennsylvania school district. This NEA member loved kids, enjoyed driving, and never, ever called in sick. Moreover, Farley was a state-certified driver trainer and highly active in a student bus safety program that was recognized across the Keystone State.

But, over those seven years, this driver's unflagging devotion was matched by an unflagging workload, which tripled from 38 to 114 bus stops a day and tripled the repetitive stress on every part of his body.

"I added up a whole day of motions," he recalls, "and found that I made 700 motions per day with my right arm alone, manually opening and closing the bus door."

Bit by bit, Farley--whose name has been changed to protect his privacy--developed the signs and symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders. He was diagnosed with nerve damage in both of his wrists and elbows, and a bulging disk in his neck eventually herniated.

This damaged driver no longer belonged on the road. But he was forced to wage a demoralizing battle to convince his employer and its insurance carrier that his problems were directly related to his work.

After a long, bitter struggle, Farley failed to win either recognition or compensation, then left the district for good.

Today, three years after he quit in agony, Farley can't drive an automobile very far--"my nerves have a memory"--and his back problems are getting worse.

"I'll be haunted by these injuries for the rest of my life," he laments.

"Your body's safety mechanism is pain," Farley reminds the school employees he left behind. "If you're starting to hurt because of your job, stop what you're doing and go find an objective medical opinion. If you don't, you'll pay for it for the rest of your life."

"I knew something was wrong while I drove that bus," he continues, "but nobody gave me information on how to avoid these injuries. I should have been taken off that bus run and put on something less physical."

Farley comes close to describing part of the new ergonomic standards just released by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

These rules define musculoskeletal disorders--like carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and back injuries--as workplace hazards and require employers to take corrective measures when workers report "MSD" symptoms.

Barring a last-minute blocking action by the new President or Congress, the new OSHA standards were scheduled to go into effect January 16.

The new rules apply to all "general industry" employers, including public school employers in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the 23 states that administer their own federally subsidized OSHA programs.

The 23 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

The product of a dogged, 10-year lobbying campaign by the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions, the OSHA ergonomic standards reflect standards already in place in Japan, Britain, and Canada.

The rules require the covered employer to inform workers about common musculoskeletal disorders, MSD signs and symptoms, and the importance of early reporting. The employer must maintain a log of reports, signs, and symptoms of MSDs--and management responses--on an OSHA form that's available to workers and their unions.

The standards provide a basic MSD "screening tool," or checklist, that includes risk factors. Only when employees report an MSD sign or symptom and their job matches one or more of these risk factors is an employer required to take further action.

If the problem is an isolated incident, the employer can use a "quick fix" to manage the worker's exposure to the risk. But if a group of employees in the same job category meet a risk factor, the employer must set up a full ergonomic program, with elements like job hazard analysis and reduction, medical management and work restrictions, and ergonomic training.

These new standards could benefit you, whether you work in a boiler room, an office, or a classroom.

"Schools are a complex industry with all kinds of jobs, many of which have ergonomic hazards," points out Darryl Alexander, health and safety coordinator for the American Federation of Teachers. "I've heard from librarians with carpal tunnel syndrome, and even from teachers who sustained injuries while moving classrooms, including books and furniture."

During hearings last year on the standard, AFT members shocked OSHA staffers with graphic descriptions of the ergonomic hazards of school work.

Ursula Stafford, a 24-year-old paraeducator from New York City, spoke about how she ruptured three disks in her back after less than two weeks of hoisting and shifting a 250-pound paraplegic student in a wheelchair. The para had received just 15 minutes of informal training from the child's mother.

And New York school secretary Diane Moriarty described how an improperly designed computer work station had given her a frozen shoulder, crushed vertebrae, and repetitive stress injury of the hands.

School employees "have taken ergonomic hazards and risks as part of the job, and this should not be," says Alexander. "These new standards are incredible, with the potential to make schools safer for staff and students."

But the new rules will be useless unless they're enforced. Here's a checklist to follow:

• 1) Find out if the new OSHA standards apply to your state. Even if your state isn't in the initial list of 23, "many states automatically adopt OSHA standards for public employees," notes Alexander. "Check with your state Department of Labor to see what's being planned."

• 2) If you're covered by the standards, ensure compliance. "We have to hold administrators accountable," stresses Alexander. "Expect them to start giving information and education on ergonomic hazards, repetitive stress injuries, and the concept of these standards, and encourage your colleagues to report the signs and symptoms of RSIs."

  "Listen to what co-workers are saying about those aches and pains," adds 16-year bus driver Denise Hacker, an ESP officer-at-large for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. "Take them seriously and don't pass judgment. Be supportive and steer them in the right direction to get the help they need."

• 3) Analyze jobs with the help of OSHA's "screening tool." "The labor movement got these 'caution standards' into the rules, and now they must be used," stresses Alexander. "Rely on them to evaluate your own job and others. And work with your district to come up with solutions that can save lots of money on absenteeism, health insurance costs, and the other hidden stuff connected to pain and injury."

  "In New York City," Alexander notes, "we have started to train paraeducators to use this checklist to assess the hazardous activities they engage in all day. This could revolutionize how special education students are handled in the future."

• 4) Don't be swayed by poverty pleas. Sure, your district may have budget problems, but it need not spend big dollars to enforce the OSHA ergonomics standards.

  Employees can often identify "simple changes" that would reduce risk, notes an OSHA factsheet. "Employers and employees working together can implement changes that reduce or eliminate risk factors without involving an expert."

• 5) Help keep these standards on the books. President George W. Bush and the new Congress will be under extreme pressure from business lobbyists to scrap these allegedly "costly" standards.

  "Urge your members of Congress not to vote to stop implementation of these rules," says Alexander. "Tell them how these standards can protect you and members of your family."

For more on the OSHA ergonomics standards, go to www.osha.gov. For an in-depth NEA study on bus drivers and repetitive stress, go to www.nea.org/esp/resource/repstres.htm.

OSHA's 'Screening Tool' For Ergonomic Hazards