Jim Frederick
United Steelworkers of America
Health, Safety & Environment Department
Five Gateway Center Room 902
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Telephone 412/562-2581
Facsimile 412/562-2584
Email address - jfrederick@uswa.org

Introduction

Members of the trade union movement continue to have strong reservations about behavior-based safety programs at our facilities. These reservations come from rank and file union members, local union leaders, and international union representatives. Labor and most management agree that unions play an important role in establishing and maintaining workplace health and safety standards. Historically, much of this accomplishment has been through legislative initiatives, regulatory activity, contract negotiations and most importantly the day to day activism by local union members. Organized labor values the import gains which have been made by our members supporting safe and healthful workplaces.

This presentation provides congress participants with a very brief discussion on the following items describing the Steelworkers union perspective on behavioral safety programs.

Background of the union & its role in workplace health and safety

USWA and behavioral safety


Statement of the International Wage Policy Committee of the United Steelworkers of America


The United Steelworkers of America 1998 Convention Resolution on Health and Safety


Some concerns with sample behavioral safety programs


Where do we go from here?

Background

The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) represents more than 700,000 members in the United States and Canada. Many members of our union work directly in the basic steel industry. But the union membership has changed over the years. Now the majority of our membership works in other industries such as rubber and plastics, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, mining, transportation equipment, general manufacturing, health care and public service industries. As the diversity of these industries dictate our members face a multitude of occupational health and safety hazards at work.

The union through our Health, Safety & Environment Department as well as a network of District Staff and Local Union Health and Safety Advocates works closely with our members, providing technical assistance to address workplace occupational health and safety hazards. One role of the union is to provide health and safety related training and education programs to our members to provide them with the means to address and correct hazards at their plants. The USWA Health, Safety and Environment Department staff spends much of our time working directly with our constituents at their factories or workplaces as well as at their local union halls addressing workplace hazards.

Another important role of the union is performing accident investigations in our facilities. In most cases our local union health and safety advocates perform this task, but the international union is closely involved. Accidents that occur in our plants vary as widely as do our workplaces. Steelworkers face a multitude of safety hazards at work. Occupational exposure to chemicals and the possible resulting health effects are also very different and varied throughout our union. As varied of illness and accidents that we see, we do notice some trends. Almost without exception when catastrophic accidents including fatalities occur at USWA represented facilities we identify multiple root causes.




ACCIDENT CAUSES COMMONLY IDENTIFIED BY USWA LOCAL UNION ADVOCATES

Equipment not Available	Contact Causing Burns	Faulty Equipment
Increased Production Quotas	Being Caught Between or Struck By	Increased Contracted Work
Known Hazards NOT Corrected	Safety & Health Management Failure	Inadequate Working Environment
Exposure to Energy	Lack of Training	Hazards Not Identified
Inadequate Training	Falls	Electrocution
Missing or Faulty Safety Devices	Process and Equipment Design	Chemical and/or Toxic Material Exposure
Lack of Maintenance	Human Factors	Out of Compliance



Many workplaces that our union represents have sophisticated and proactive comprehensive occupational health and safety programs. In these workplaces the safety and health programs, policies and actions by both salaried and hourly personnel exceed the requirements and intent of OSHA regulations. It is in these workplaces within the union that we find cooperative and proactive, labor-management health and safety programs working effectively. It is also in these workplaces which we find all employees willing to assess, adapt and adopt additional safety and health measures.

On the other hand, it is the experience of the USWA that many of our members work in facilities that do not maintain acceptable plant safety and health programs. In some cases workers are not permitted to participate in the employers' health and safety programs. Many times the written programs at these plants are acceptable on first review, but plant investigations and discussion with the workers reveal that the paper programs are not carried out on the shop floor. In other instances we find workplace safety programs totally absent.


The USWA and Behavioral Safety

Employers at numerous workplaces represented by the USWA have implemented behavior-based safety programs. In some of these plants the behavioral safety programs have become the main component of plant health and safety while other plants utilize behavioral safety programs as components of comprehensive health and safety programs. Many employers understand the importance of working with the union on any health and safety related program. However, in some workplaces behavioral safety programs have been implemented without the union's agreement or little to no worker participation.

These behavior-based programs come with many names and in different packages. Some programs are implemented through consultants while some employers have attempted to incorporate a behavioral safety process on their own. Many of the consultants that can be found in the exhibition area may work with at least one of our 2000 represented workplaces. We have found vast differences in the programs available from the various consultants. We believe that some programs are better than others are, but all have some serious shortcomings.

The Steelworkers union believes in strong joint labor-management health and safety programs that address workplace hazards as well as policies, procedures and actions. We believe that the best means for any employer to create a safe and healthy environment is to work jointly with the local union to determine what needs must be met. We have had much success working with employers to reduce the number of accidents, injuries and illnesses. In our experience we find that adequate resources must be allocated by management in order to thoroughly address workplace health hazards. The Steelworkers don't believe that a behavioral component is a requirement of a comprehensive health and safety program. However, we recognize that some employers insist on their inclusion.

When an employer plans to implement a behavioral safety program at a USWA facility, we strongly urge our local unions to consider alternative comprehensive health and safety programs without behavioral components. We offer training and information to local union officers and health and safety representatives on this subject. We suggest that our local unions take an active role in the planning stages of the implementation process and present alternative programs to management. If a behavioral safety program will be implemented at the plant, we suggest that the local union negotiate with management on the specifics of the entire health and safety program.

The Steelworkers union believes that plants with behavioral safety components integrated into their overall health and safety program see real improvements only when the non-behavioral components of the comprehensive program are effective. We contend that the improvements achieved result primarily from the non-behavioral component. Also, we stress that health and safety is a mandatory subject for bargaining and too many behavioral programs have been forced into our workplaces.

Please understand that scenarios and situations arising around this topic are extremely case specific. We attempt to work with our members to specifically address occupational safety and health concerns. The comments made in this presentation are very general in nature because of the limited time available. We invite anyone - workers, employers, behavioral safety representatives or health and safety consultants - to discuss these matters with us further.

We believe that if a local union enters into any agreement with management regarding behavioral safety that many items must be in place in order to ensure that the program works properly. A few of these include the following:



Create a written letter of agreement outlining the important components of the program.


Establish and practice good health and safety emphasizing that workers are the solution to plant health and safety concerns – NOT the problem.


Ensure that the local union can end the behavioral safety components of the program if they deem it necessary.


Provide an equal emphasis from management and the union on all facets of the comprehensive health and safety program.


Provide that non-behavioral safety components of program receive equitable budgets of time, personnel and funds.


Ensure that the local union leadership maintains the ability to identify and change program participants as needed.


Establish and maintain a system for workers to volunteer to participate in program and ensure that worker participation is not required.


Ensure anonymous reporting of hazards, conditions and other factors by workers and behavioral safety participants.


Include local union representatives in training of all program volunteers.


Ensure that the employer will accept strong health & safety contract language in future negotiations.


Ensure that incentive programs are not used.

Too often the programs that we see in place focus on the behavior of the worker only. Other programs focus only on bad worker behavior. The programs do not account for the behavior of management or the systems of management or on the positive behaviors that we feel are important to a comprehensive health & safety program. Also, we find that behavioral safety programs alone have limited success in addressing workplace safety and health conditions.

In 1998 the union has been active in addressing some of our concerns with behavioral safety. Members of the USWA working with the international union referenced behavioral safety in proceedings of the union's 1998 Wage and Policy Committee. The international union proposed a draft statement to be adopted by the committee. The committee then discussed the draft and proposed many changes to the statement. Committee members identified strong reservations about behavioral safety and revised the draft statement actually strengthening language in the statement on behavioral safety. The following is an excerpt from the Statement of the International Wage Policy Committee of the United Steelworkers of America. The full statement can be found on the union's website at http://www.uswa.org/resources/98wagepl.html . Also below is an excerpt from the United Steelworkers of America 1998 Convention Resolution on Health and Safety that was proposed by the rank and file Resolution Committee and adopted by the convention delegates.


STATEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL WAGE POLICY COMMITTEE
United Steelworkers of America
Adopted at Cleveland, Ohio on June 16, 1998


Safety and health should be an area where cooperation between union and management can benefit both sides. But cooperation is a two-way street. It must be based on well-defined union and worker rights, guaranteed by the contract. All workers should have the right to refuse work that they believe endangers themselves or others, without fear of management retaliation. All workers should have access to good safety training, designed and delivered by the Union and company together, beginning with their orientation. Workers and their union should have the right to any information in the company's possession that affects safety and health. Overtime and shift scheduling must not be allowed to compromise safety.

Joint safety and health committees should have the power to review conditions in the workplace on a continuous basis, not just at the monthly meetings. Union members of the joint safety and health committee should have immediate notice and access to the workplace to investigate accidents and unsafe conditions. The committee should discuss the safety and health implications of new technology well before it is introduced. The company should pay for the lost time, expenses and training for union members of the joint committee.

Many of these provisions exist in our best agreements. We must bring all of our contracts up to this level. We must also work to assure that workplace safety and health programs recognize the real causes of workplace injuries, and respect the knowledge and skill of union members. Many corporate programs, like "behavioral safety," assume that worker "misbehavior" is the cause of most safety and health problems. Other programs are based on the insulting belief that union members are too stupid to care about their own safety, so they must be bribed with pizzas, jackets, or the chance to win a vacation if they avoid accidents. Such programs only eliminate accident reporting-- not accidents -- and must be actively resisted.

The Union knows better. Workplace injuries and illness are caused by hazards, not misbehavior. A serious safety and health program identifies and corrects those hazards by enlisting the participation of the entire workforce, acting through their union. Our message must always be that our members are not the problem -- they are the solution.

Safety and health programs must also explicitly recognize the role of the union. Some companies have offered to pay for full-time union safety representatives, or additional safety and health committee members, but only if management has a hand in picking them. We must fight for all the representatives we can get, but management must not be involved in their selection.



The United Steelworkers of America 1998 Convention Resolution on Health and Safety
United Steelworkers of America 29th Constitutional Convention Las Vegas, Nevada, August 10 -13, 1998

WHEREAS, our fight for health and safety is threatened by insulting corporate programs that assume that workers themselves are responsible for workplace accidents and disease&ldots;

We will work to promote union values and principles in all our efforts. We will oppose those "behavioral safety" programs that assume that worker misbehavior is the primary cause of workplace accidents. We will oppose & "safety incentive" programs that assume that workers are too stupid to care about their own safety and must be bribed with trinkets. We will insist on safety programs that enlist the skill, knowledge, and commitment of the workforce in finding and correcting hazards. We will continue to assert our strong belief that our members are not the problem - they are the solution.

Case Studies in Behavioral Safety Programs

Management Driven Behavioral Safety Program

Workers are generally told that without them the behavioral safety program just won't work. Behavioral safety consultants brag that the program is floor driven and that the hourly employees will have ownership of the program. At a large industrial facility in the Midwest a behavioral safety program has been implemented with a slightly different twist. At this plant management performs all of the behavioral inspections. The program has been put into place without any support, cooperation or agreement from the local union.

The local union received information from a consultant during a pre-implementation meeting. The local union requested a couple things from the company following that meeting. First, the local union requested that the company discuss the program with them further and negotiate over it rather than implement the company chosen program. Second, the local union requested that as other important health and safety matters are negotiated on a multi-plant master arrangement that the company address this issue in that manner. To date, this company has not responded to these requests. The union has filed grievances over the program. The grievances are pending.

Training has been and continues to be performed for managers to become the plant safety inspectors. During the course of the instruction managers are told not to mark too many unsafe behaviors on their checklist so that employees are not _turned-off' by the program. Hourly employees at this plant are victims of the process for many reasons, but the data generated through this process don't even reflect true plant practices.

Participation by the hourly employees or having their work practices monitored by the inspectors is mandatory. If employees make certain mistakes while the inspection takes place they may be reprimanded or even discharged.

The manager coordinating the program tells the local union that employees will _learn to perform the task correctly in order to receive positive feedback and eventually perform their task correctly'. Workers that we have spoken with admit that after the first inspection they now know what things are looked at and will do them differently during the next inspection. They express concern that production quotas, management-enforced procedures and other factors don't allow them to perform their jobs in the same way each time.


Worker Intimidation & Discipline

Behavioral safety programs come in several varieties. In a plant in the Southeastern US an employer has taken an interesting step into behavioral safety. The workers at this plant are members of the USWA.
OSHA contacted the company during the Cooperative Compliance Program initiative because of a high OSHA incident rate. The company agreed to join into the program and revitalized efforts to work jointly with the Union to address workplace health and safety. However, when OSHA changed course on the CCP program so did the company.

At some point plant management representatives attended some behavioral safety training. Following the training management began to review workplace accident records. Management singled out workers involved with any workers compensation case as well as workers involved in more than one recordable accident over the past several years. These workers have been counseled about their unsafe behavior. They were not allowed to have union representation during these counseling sessions. The workers were told that their unsafe behavior might cause them to be involved in accidents that will affect their status as employees at the plant.

As previously stated, the USWA supports and assists employers who wish to improve workplace health and safety providing that they do so in a cooperative, productive, and joint fashion with the union. However, we don't believe that employee intimidation accomplishes much other than a reduction in employees reporting unsafe conditions, near misses and accidents to management. Many workers tell union representatives that they believe they will be disciplined if they report safety concerns, near misses or accidents. Workers report that they might not report minor accidents if no manager witnesses the event. In response to this concern, management reminds the union that workers will be disciplined if they do not report accidents to plant management.

At this plant the local union has reviewed many of management's accident reports involved. Some of these reports are five years old. The local union is currently performing a comprehensive plant audit to review the conditions that contributed to these accidents. So far the union has made a couple of observations. First, management's accident reports don't accurately reflect the workers recollection of the conditions involved in the accident. Also, contributing hazardous conditions present when the accident occurred are often currently still present. Some of these hazardous conditions were identified five years ago and/or have been reported to management by the local union safety committee.



Behavioral Safety Costs & Results

Behavioral safety programs can be very costly to a facility. The costs include consulting fees, administrative costs, lost time, training expenses, overhead, incentives, and equipment.

How much does a behavioral safety program cost? Often times local unions involved with these programs don't know the answer to this question. Sometimes our local unions have asked management about specific plant costs, but are not provided with the information. The USWA has concerns with the costs associated with behavioral safety programs. We do support management commitment in health and safety. Some of that commitment should be in the form of a substantial budget for health and safety. We believe that the local union needs to have a good understanding of the costs associated with all health and safety programs at the facility. Without an understanding of the costs associated with the programs it is difficult to ensure that the behavioral safety component is balanced with the other pieces of the comprehensive program.

According to the plant manager at a Steelworker represented plant in the Midwest, annual behavioral safety consulting fees exceed $200,000. The local union at this plant represents about 1,500 members. Local union representatives agreed that the consulting fees exceed $200,000 and may be closer to $300,000 for their plant. In fact the local union representatives estimate the total behavioral safety program costs between $500,000 and $800,000 annually.

This program, like many others, trains workers to evaluate other workers performing their job. The goal at this plant is to perform more than 300 reviews per week. More than 8,300 hours per year are dedicated to this portion of the program. However when discussed during negotiations, the company has contended for years that they can not afford to provide for a full-time union health and safety committee representative.

What has this plant accomplished a few years into their behavioral safety program? Neither management nor the local union has any idea. They do know that they have expended great amounts of time and money. Workers in the plant should have some understanding of the accomplishments of the program. Some of the responses that we received from workers when asked about the program's accomplishments are listed below:

"We got a cooler and a tee-shirt."


"I don't know much about that program."


"It sounds good, but we get a lot of safety programs that sound good."


"I'm an inspector, but I don't really know what we have accomplished."


"I think that they cut down accidents."

Incidentally, during the time that the behavioral program has been in place the relationship between management and the union on matters associated with health and safety has greatly improved. However, the principle representatives from the local union and the company who have forged the improved relationship have little or nothing to do with the behavioral safety program.

Also, since the behavioral safety program has been in place the plant has received several OSHA citations. Most recently repeat, willful and serious citations were issued with proposed penalties in excess of $100,000. Of the violations included in the citation, the local union behavioral safety representatives could not find one item identified during the behavioral inspection process or comment from the behavioral program that identified any of the hazards cited.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The USWA contends that our represented facilities don't need a behavioral safety program in order to achieve the goal of a safe and healthy workplace. We have had very successful joint comprehensive health and safety programs make great gains at plants with relatively little expense. Our members have many concerns with programs that we have seen in place. We realize that some of our employers have different beliefs and strongly desire to implement or maintain existing behavioral safety programs. Our membership has determined their position opposing these programs through our Wage Policy Committee and the Health and Safety Resolution passed by our Convention.

The union contends that plant safety can't rely too heavily on the behavioral component of the program. Programs that do rely too much on behavior don't achieve a safe workplace. A balanced comprehensive approach is needed with involvement from the union and management. The union needs to secure strong health and safety contract language to protect the workers' interest. Workers need to negotiate with management about behavioral safety programs and other options to achieve safety and health goals.

Too many of our union brothers and sisters work today in plants with poor behavioral safety programs in place. Steelworkers have initiated actions to better support one another in this area. We will identify the bad actors in the field and share our concerns and support within the union so those mistakes are not repeated.