“Our members need to be able to finish their work without their work finishing them,” PEF president Roger Benson said at a May press conference at the state Capitol in Albany, where the union unveiled its “Stop Workplace Violence” campaign.

PEF represents more than 50,000 state employees, including thousands who work in correctional facilities, mental health institutions and social services agencies. The union is lobbying lawmakers for passage of a trio of bills: the Workplace Violence Prevention Bill, the Judi Scanlon Bill and the Workplace Injury Disclosure and Accountability Bill.

Specifically, the workplace violence prevention measure would require state agencies to examine risk factors confronting their employees. Agencies with more than 20 employees would be required to implement a violence prevention program.

The Judi Scanlon Bill, named after a PEF member who was killed on the job, would institute safeguards for mental health workers, including limiting intensive case manager caseloads to no more than 12 patients and requiring the office of mental health to provide annual safety training and cell phones to all intensive case managers.

The disclosure bill would require the Department of Civil Service to report annually on state employee injuries and related costs. The union says the annual report would assist state agencies in developing prevention strategies.

PEF launched the “Stop Workplace Violence” campaign last year, investing more than $250,000 in membership training and education.