Health Care Local Keeps Safety Training Fresh

Back and neck injuries, needle sticks, fires in the operating room — Nurses United, CWA Local 1168 has been tremendously successful in reducing all manner of occupational illnesses and injuries.

Regular training is the key, local health and safety officer Dana McCarthy said.

The local, which represents several hospitals that comprise the Kaleida Health System, negotiated a contract that allows them to bring stewards to the local's office a couple hours each month for safety and health training. Usually 20 or 30 attend to hear experts speak on a variety of topics.

They've had Micki Siegel de Hernández, health and safety director for CWA District 1, address ergonomic issues. McCarthy himself is an expert on the dangers of contracting blood-borne pathogens from needle sticks or pipettes. And thanks to training on fire safety in the operating room — pure oxygen and flame don't mix — flash fires have been a rarity and no members have been injured by them.

Recently the director of Kaleida Health visited one of the training sessions to update stewards on a successful program to avoid lifting injuries. At the local's urging, Kaleida is now using robotic devices to help lift heavy patients and to move them from stretchers to beds.

"Kaleida invested $7 million to become the only no-lift health care system in America," McCarthy said. "From our benchmark in 2003, Kaleida has seen a 77 percent drop in lifting injuries."

Local 1168 represents more than 3,300 workers at health care outlets including Kaleida, St. Joseph's Hospital, several nursing homes and Planned Parenthood.

"You've got to keep up the training," McCarthy said. "You have a lot of turnover and if you stop training people, that's when you develop problems."