Page 12 - NY Cooperator April 2020
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12 THE COOPERATOR —  APRIL 2020  COOPERATOR.COM  MANAGEMENT  Staff Safety 101  Protecting Employees in Your Building  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  With few exceptions, most multifamily  employer’s responsibility to ensure the work-  buildings or communities have at least one or  ers are trained on the hazards to which they are   two staff members (and sometimes many  exposed. OSHA offers free, confidential onsite   more) who maintain the safety, security, clean-  liness, mechanical operations, and day-to-day  information is available at www.osha.gov.  functions that residents and visitors rely on.   But who ensures the safety and security of the  ensure that OSHA standards are followed and   staff themselves? What systems and protocols  maintained; it is the responsibility of the em-  are in place to address how employees can keep  ployee to call out serious hazards and to inform   themselves—and each other—safe on the job?  OSHA when they believe an employer is not   The Cooperator   went behind the acronyms to  compliant. OSHA compliance officers perform   find out.   OSHA  Workplaces throughout the United States  or if a worker or worker representative files a   and its territories are subject to the Occupation-  al Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),   overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor. Ac-  cording to the OSHA website, “OSHA creates  Kate Ferranti of SEIU Local 32BJ, the Service   and enforces regulatory standards that require  Employees International Union, which repre-  certain precautions to be taken in order to en-  sure the safety and health of workers.”     OSHA regulations are the primary worker  a history of accidents there, or if an employee   safety statutes in the U.S., says Matthew Per-  sanis, a partner with Elefante & Persanis, LLP,  a hazardous condition exists.”   a labor, employment, and real estate law firm   in Scarsdale, who is also labor counsel to a   number of employer associations. “If a build-  ing complies with OSHA regulations, they are  ing Fund, the union has more than 175,000   complying with what they need to.”   Part of keeping employees safe is mak-  ing sure they’re properly trained for the tasks  sand of those members work in the New York   expected of them. According to an OSHA  metropolitan area—and the number swells to   spokesperson, “Property staff must have train-  ing appropriate for the types of jobs and tasks  Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virgin-  they are performing. If they work on electrical  ia, and Washington, D.C. Union members in-  equipment, they need to be qualified. If they  clude cleaners, doormen, porters, maintenance   work with chemicals, they need to be trained  workers, window cleaners, security guards, su-  in the safe use of those chemicals. If they are  perintendents, and theater and stadium work-  performing servicing and maintenance on  ers.  equipment, it is possible they will need training   in the control of hazardous energy. It is their  tirement planning, wage  negotiations,  and   safety and health consultation services.” More    It is the responsibility of the employer to   drop-in inspections only when there is an im-  minent or obvious hazard, an injury or fatality,   complaint.  “OSHA’s role is to enforce the rules that ap-  ply to any work being performed on-site,” says   sents building workers throughout the Mid-  Atlantic. “They can inspect a condo if there is   files a complaint regarding lack of training or if    32BJ  According to James Barry, Senior Manager   of Program Development for the 32BJ Train-  members, making it the largest property work-  ers’ union in the United States. Eighty thou-  more than 100,000 if you count New Jersey,   In addition to the healthcare benefits, re-


































































































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