Health and safety
What is the UAW approach to improving health and safety in the auto industry?
The UAW believes that the best way to prevent injuries and illnesses on the job is to provide workers with information about hazards and procedures to get these hazards corrected. An educated, empowered worker, who has the right to act on what he or she knows, is the best line of defense against workplace hazards.
We also focus on the principle of “fix the work, not the worker.” That means reducing indoor pollution instead of handing out respirators; reducing the use of toxic chemicals instead of treating people after they get sick; and changing the design of jobs to eliminate strains, sprains and heavy lifting instead of passing out back braces.
Is there evidence that this approach is effective?
Yes. Since 1994 – the year after the UAW negotiated new ergonomics programs at the Big Three – total injuries and illnesses have been reduced dramatically in UAW-represented sectors of the auto industry.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of illnesses and injuries has been reduced since 1994 by 36.7 percent in motor vehicle assembly, by 42.1 percent in automotive stamping, and by 39.5 percent in internal combustion engines. These are the sectors of the industry in which UAW membership is at its highest density. It is our members in Big Three, Delphi and Visteon plants who are setting safety standards for the entire industry.
The reduction in injuries and illnesses is even more impressive when compared to what has happened in other industries. The rate of injuries declined 426 percent more rapidly in the motor vehicle sector than in all of private industry between 1994 and 2001, while illnesses were cut almost 1,100 percent faster.
Fatality rates in the auto industry, already about one-third of the national average, also fell significantly from 1973 to the present. This was accomplished by focusing on high-risk activities of the skilled trades and powered industrial vehicle operations.
The impressive results we have achieved must be judged against the background of the very severe underlying dangers of the highly mechanized and severely compressed production processes in foundries, stamping-fabrication plants, machining operations and vehicle assembly plants. Vehicle assembly in particular poses very difficult ergonomic challenges.
Injuries and illnesses in the U.S. automotive industry, 1994-2001
Annual rate of total recordable injuries/illnesses per 100 full-time workers
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What kind of members’ rights have helped lead to these reductions?
UAW members have rights to information and receive extensive jointly developed health and safety training on key issues like chemical hazards, energy lockout, powered industrial vehicles and ergonomics, and the negotiated programs to control these hazards. Hourly workers and management counterparts typically deliver this training.
UAW labor agreements specify that members are provided medical exams and tests, and their exposures to chemicals are monitored. In addition, they have access to examination and test results, and ergonomic and safety hazards are evaluated periodically. Members can call for evaluation of specific problems on their jobs, including perceived imminent dangers. Failing resolution, members have access to a health and safety complaint and grievance procedure.
What kinds of health and safety activities take place at the individual plant level?
Locally, the agreements provide for at least one, and sometimes more, full-time appointed union representatives in each worksite with more than 600 UAW-represented workers who is dedicated to health, safety and ergonomic issues.
These UAW health and safety representatives work full time to monitor workplace hazards and prevent illnesses and injuries. They regularly inspect the facility for safety hazards, evaluate ergonomic risk factors, and take or observe the collection of air samples for chemical exposures. They receive jointly developed training at least annually in their technical areas.
UAW health and safety representatives typically work together with management counterparts in their respective technical area. An important duty is review of new equipment for safety and health issues before it is installed. The union and management health and safety representatives function as a local joint health and safety committee. Another committee consisting of the plant manager, personnel director and top local union leadership reviews facility health and safety at least monthly.
What happens at the corporate level?
The UAW negotiations created joint national committees on health and safety at the Big Three, Delphi and Visteon. At each company, this committee meets regularly to review performance, devise training, direct health and safety research and exchange data.
The national joint committees also devise and direct regular joint audits of facility health and safety programs by national union and management staff. The agreements commit corporate management to meet regularly with union and management representatives dedicated to health and safety to review programs and progress.
UAW contracts include a general management commitment to health and safety, as well as commitments to specific programs. These include energy lockout (a safety procedure for servicing equipment), powered industrial trucks, confined space entry, noise and hearing conservation and preventive maintenance. Management has committed to control of exposure to metalworking fluids beyond that required by OSHA. The agreements specify extensive ergonomics programs, including job analysis and modification according to strict time limits.
Have UAW health and safety programs had any influence beyond the auto industry?
Yes. When our union negotiated a role for workers in designing and implementing health and safety programs in the 1970s, the idea that workers themselves could be involved in preventing workplace injuries was considered radical. But OSHA now recognizes employee participation as equal to management commitment as a fundamental part of any rigorous effort to improve workplace safety.
In addition, many of the research studies that have been funded and carried out under the auspices of UAW-auto industry joint health and safety programs have had broad influence throughout U.S. industry. For example, joint UAW-auto industry studies on ergonomics helped provide the basis for the nationwide standard on ergonomics that was issued by President Clinton, then repealed by President Bush.
UAW-auto industry research on methods of controlling metalworking fluids served as the basis for the recommendation by an OSHA advisory committee to reduce exposure levels to these hazardous chemicals. OSHA has yet to act on this recommendation – a serious error, in our view, which has left tens of thousands of workers facing unnecessary risks.
We regret that the U.S. government has failed to follow up on the demonstrated success of UAW-negotiated health and safety programs in the auto industry. We believe our track record shows that workplaces in many different industries can be made safer, which can reduce pain and suffering by workers, reduce lost time due to injuries, increase productivity and lower medical costs for employers.
We will continue to make every effort to make UAW workplaces safer, and to improve our joint health and safety programs. We are also committed to sharing the results of our work with all those who share an interest in making American workplaces as safe as possible.
