PSRPs offer eye-opening testimony about the pressing need for an ergonomics standard

When United Federation of Teachers (UFT) paraprofessional Ursula Stafford broke into tears while testifying before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on its proposed ergonomics standard, the problem of on-the-job injuries caused by ergonomic hazards came into sharp focus.

PSRPs at the AFT's recent conference used drawings like the one above to show their job-related aches and pains. The drawings were passed on to OSHA officials.

The 24-year-old Stafford gave an emotional account of a job-related injury she sustained hoisting a 250-pound paralyzed student from a wheelchair on and off of a toilet and then changing that student's diaper. Her training for this task consisted of 15 minutes of informal instruction from the student's mother.

Stafford's resulting herniated disc prevents her from working and also caused her to miss required college classes and her graduation. She now wears a back brace and has foregone wearing high heels or exercising regularly.

"It's not fair!" Stafford pleaded. "I was supposed to be walking down the aisle to graduate." Still raw with emotion over the repercussions of her disabling injury, Stafford said, "The reason I'm so upset is that the person who handled this [student] before me is permanently disabled. I'm not the first victim."

Stafford was one of many AFT members and leaders who testified in March in Washington, D.C., before a panel of OSHA hearing officers, who were both surprised and sympathetic to hear of the many areas of work--often among PSRP jobs--that can result in musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and repetitive strain injuries (RSIs): hallmark signs of ergonomic problems.

About half of the 17,000 paraprofessionals the UFT represents work in what resemble hospital settings and perform the functions of health professionals, said UFT industrial hygienist Ellie Engler. They receive no specific training, although the union does try to provide generic training on ergonomics and on the use of universal precautions.

Baltimore Teachers Union paraprofessional Inez Chambers also testified before the panel, saying she spends hours on her feet and must bend or crouch next to children's desks all day long. Her job also requires lifting kids and sometimes even restraining or removing them from the classroom. "This places my colleagues and myself at risk for injury that would affect us for the rest of our lives." Chambers added that since there are no ergonomic standards in place--no protections when reporting ergonomic injuries--"rather than put our jobs in jeopardy, we'll take the pain and work with the pain."

New York City secretary Diane Moriarity, who says she suffers from ergonomic neglect, described how a poorly placed computer and keyboard on which she spends hours entering data required her to twist her body to look at the monitor while she worked on a keyboard that had no space provided for it. In fact, nothing is adjustable at Moriarity's work station (or anyone else's) because the Board of Education requires that equipment be bolted down--whether placed correctly or not. "After four years of working like that, the pain became unbearable," said Moriarity, who added that with the efforts of her union, she finally got a new work station. But the damage to her body had already been done, including a frozen shoulder, crushed vertebrae and an RSI of the hands.

One OSHA hearing officer, expressing what seemed to be the sentiments of her fellow panel members, commented to the AFT members: "You have made these injuries very real to us. We're sorry we haven't been able to get [the ergonomics standard] out earlier."

Ergonomic hazards exist for workers in every PSRP job category. "Custodians lift furniture and equipment; unload and store books and materials; and carry garbage up and down stairs," AFT health and safety expert Darryl Alexander reported in her written testimony to the OSHA panel. "Our bus drivers tell us that the most common MSD hazards are whole-body vibration, sedentary positions, twisting the neck and shoulders, and forceful movements to operate controls."

Alexander also noted that food service workers "perform all the jobs in the kitchen once the delivery truck pulls up. Our workers unload heavy boxes of food and open and store food products that are in commercial-weight containers. They prepare food in large quantities and must lift the pans into and out of commercial ovens that may open overhead."

Most of the workers testifying before OSHA revealed that there was little remedy for the work settings that injured them in the first place, and no incentive for their employers to fix the situations that caused them harm. Though AFT locals are instrumental in securing workplace adjustments and providing generic ergonomic training, it is up to the employer to approve work station changes and improvements and to provide specialized equipment and training. Currently, however, employers are under no obligation to do so.

While the ergonomics standard, which was proposed last fall, is a step in the right direction, it does not go far enough in protecting members whose job descriptions don't reveal lifting and repetitive strain requirements, says Alexander. Currently, employers like the New York Board of Education are under no obligation to train employees on how to handle lifting assignments or other job duties that could result in musculoskeletal disorders or repetitive strain injuries. The proposed standard has different "triggers" of action and would only require employers to start an ergonomics program for manufacturing and materials handling jobs. The employer would be obliged to provide information and training to those workers and keep records of MSD symptoms.

Also, under the current proposal, the employer would only be required to begin taking preventive measures when an employee reports an injury and it is logged as an OSHA complaint. The AFT is recommending that OSHA take a more preventive approach and adopt triggers like a worker's report of a health hazard and risk factors. When employers know that employees are suffering musculoskeletal disorders or repetitive strain injuries or know about risks for these injuries, they should be made to act, says Alexander.

PSRP leader Dorothea Bell from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers also testified in Washington, D.C. Among the other PSRPs who testified in Chicago and Portland, Ore., were Rudy Newbold, president of the Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees, and two members of the Los Angeles College Guild. Alexander is continuing to gather information to support an ergonomics standard for posthearing briefs she will submit to OSHA. Members have until mid-June to send their anecdotes, evidence and data concerning ergonomic problems and fixes. You can reach Alexander at 202/393-5674.