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CWA Urges Strong TB Protections
CWA has gone to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to urge the agency to adopt more stringent regulations to block the spread of tuberculosis on behalf of one of the union’s fastest-growing segments — health care workers.
CWA Executive Vice President M. E. Nichols, in detailed comments filed with OSHA in late February, cited problems uncovered by Nurses United, CWA Local 1168, after union and hospital officials learned that four workers had been exposed to TB by a fifth worker who had an active case of TB and is now off the job.
The new OSHA standards that CWA hopes the agency will adopt should parallel current guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and apply to all health care workers and public workers, including correction workers, social workers and hospice workers.
CWA Representative Ellen Gallant of District 1, who works with members of CWA Local 1168 and numerous other locals that represent hospital and health care workers in the New York area, estimates that the union represents some 4,000 nurses and perhaps 15,000 health care workers nationally. Besides New York, CWA represents workers in allied fields in Iowa, New Jersey, Texas and California, Gallant says.
Nichols, in his formal comments to OSHA, criticized “inadequate training” and “control procedures” at Buffalo General Hospital, where CWA represents some 2,000 health care workers.
Hospital administrators initially delayed telling the workers of the problem, then dragged their feet again when informing them of their options and ultimately controverted the workers’ compensation claims of the infected workers, Nichols said.
“CWA does not believe this case is unique,” Nichols advised OSHA. “We know of other hospitals that are not following CDC recommendations, especially with respect to respirator training and fit testing. We believe that this shows the need for mandatory regulations on tuberculosis, as described in the proposed OSHA Rule for Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis,” Nichols said.
David LeGrande, an administrative assistant to Nichols and the union’s OSH director, said that he expects OSHA authorities to review all comments received by the end of February, and to issue a standard sometime between three and six months later.
CWA Executive Vice President M. E. Nichols, in detailed comments filed with OSHA in late February, cited problems uncovered by Nurses United, CWA Local 1168, after union and hospital officials learned that four workers had been exposed to TB by a fifth worker who had an active case of TB and is now off the job.
The new OSHA standards that CWA hopes the agency will adopt should parallel current guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and apply to all health care workers and public workers, including correction workers, social workers and hospice workers.
CWA Representative Ellen Gallant of District 1, who works with members of CWA Local 1168 and numerous other locals that represent hospital and health care workers in the New York area, estimates that the union represents some 4,000 nurses and perhaps 15,000 health care workers nationally. Besides New York, CWA represents workers in allied fields in Iowa, New Jersey, Texas and California, Gallant says.
Nichols, in his formal comments to OSHA, criticized “inadequate training” and “control procedures” at Buffalo General Hospital, where CWA represents some 2,000 health care workers.
Hospital administrators initially delayed telling the workers of the problem, then dragged their feet again when informing them of their options and ultimately controverted the workers’ compensation claims of the infected workers, Nichols said.
“CWA does not believe this case is unique,” Nichols advised OSHA. “We know of other hospitals that are not following CDC recommendations, especially with respect to respirator training and fit testing. We believe that this shows the need for mandatory regulations on tuberculosis, as described in the proposed OSHA Rule for Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis,” Nichols said.
David LeGrande, an administrative assistant to Nichols and the union’s OSH director, said that he expects OSHA authorities to review all comments received by the end of February, and to issue a standard sometime between three and six months later.