Government Affairs Updates

ASSE Moving Ahead on Providing OSH Coverage to Florida's Public Sector Workers

Tuesday, March 3rd

To announce ASSE’s continued leadership in 2009 in achieving OSH coverage for public sector workers in Florida, the following communication was sent to each Florida member. Since then, bills have been introduced, in both the Florida Senate (SB 1878 by Senator Lynn and HB 1029 by Representative Gibson). The Senate version can be found at http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/view_page.pl?Tab=session&Submenu=1&FT=D&File=sb1878.html&Directory=session/2009/Senate/bills/billtext/html/ and the House bill at http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h1029__.xml&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=1029&Session=2009 .

To ASSE’s Florida Members –

Florida’s ASSE members deserve all the credit in the world for succeeding last year at passing one of the more significant occupational safety and health (OSH) bills in recent years in any state or even at the federal level. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) recognized the achievement in its You Tube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19HSiiTu86s . At a time when there are few initiatives to advance safety and health, legislation by Senator Lynn and Representative Gibson that ASSE championed created a task force to determine how Florida can provide OSH coverage to its public sector workers. The task force concluded that Florida can begin to do so. While the full report can be read at http://www.floridaworkplacesafety.org/Documents/FINAL%20REPORT.pdf , the recommendations ASSE is supporting are as follows:

The primary recommendation is that legislation require all cities, counties, municipalities, school districts, state agencies, and special districts to comply with OSHA CFR 1910 (General Industry) and CFR 1926 (Construction) standards within three years.
Four additional recommendations:

• The state should require all Florida public employers to collect and retain injury and illness data as incidents occur, using the using the OSHA Recordable criteria and Form 300.
• The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation should expand its annual report to include a “state-of-the-state” report covering all public entities. The report card should list each employer’s workers’ comp claim costs, injury totals, injury incident rate per 100 employees, and fatalities.
• The state should provide a confidential toll-free telephone number for public employers and employees to ask questions, report perceived unsafe working conditions, and request materials and assistance.
• The Division of Workers’ Compensation should compile a list of professional safety resources to help public employers strengthen workplace safety programs.

Now, in the 2009 session of the Florida Legislature, ASSE is working to see these recommendations passed into law. ASSE has engaged the lobbyist who succeeded for us last year. We have a group of dedicated Florida members who have been working on this issue from the beginning and who will lead the effort again this year. Ed Granberry Jr. was instrumental in making sure ASSE pursued this issue and will be the Member Coordinator of the effort. Jim Smith is an ASSE Board member and is long committed to the issue. Mark Friend of Embry-Riddle University as a member of the task force helped see these recommendations adopted. And Frank Lakotich of Alabama, the new ARVP for Government Affairs for Region IV, is bringing the Region’s support to the effort.

But we will need your help. We expect this effort to be difficult. There is no guarantee of success. When you are asked to help in ways like contacting your state senator or representative, we would hope that you will take the time and effort to do so. You can also write letters to the editor in your community, make sure your Chapter knows what is going on. The more voices we can bring to this effort, the better chances we have. Please watch for emails with more information and requests for help.



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