USW Alerts Members to Swine Flu (H1N1 Influenza) Threats and Prevention

Contact: Maria Somma (USW) – 412-562-1992 or
                 Tony Montana (USW) – 412-562-2592

Editor’s note: Click here for more information, including downloadable fact sheets and common questions and answers.

PITTSBURGH – The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced plans to educate its members and their families about how to minimize their risk of being infected by the current outbreak of the Swine Flu, signs and symptoms of possible infection, and what employers should be doing now to prevent exposure in workplace settings.

USW International Vice President Fred Redmond, who chairs the union’s Health Care Workers Council, said that protecting the front line workers in hospitals and clinics from infection should be priority number one for employers in the healthcare field.

“With 45,000 of our members employed in healthcare, our union has no choice but to take this outbreak and risk of a pandemic seriously and to address it proactively,” Redmond said. “We’re mobilizing through our department of Health, Safety and Environment to get as much good information out to our members as possible.”

Toward that end, the USW has produced five separate fact sheets that are posted on the union’s Web site and will be mailed to all local unions representing health care workers for distribution:

• The first one gives some basic facts about pandemic flu, along with what we know about the current Swine Flu outbreak.
• A second fact sheet focuses on infection control for pandemic flu; specific infection control plans that employers should implement now, including responsible sickness and absentee policies; and the importance of union involvement in the planning process.
• A third fact sheet concentrates on respirators and respiratory protection, an important topic for workers at high risk of exposure such as health care employees and emergency medical technicians. This document warns that surgical masks are completely ineffective in protecting the wearer  from infectious disease such as the swine flu. Respirators can be effective protection, but only if they are designed to filter specific contaminants.
• A fourth fact sheet covers the specifics of infection control for health care workers during pandemic flu, and stresses that the time to put effective plans in place is now, before a pandemic arrives.
• The final fact sheet reviews the role local unions can play in helping to prepare workplaces for the possibility of a pandemic flu, including how to review and assess employers’ programs and plans, and activities for union health and safety committees.

USW Assistant Director of Health, Safety and the Environment Jim Frederick said that these informational and educational pieces will be supplemented by meetings, conference calls and webinar sessions to help individual USW local unions and answer questions as they surface.

“It is one of our union’s most vitally important duties – keeping our members safe while they’re on the job,” Frederick said. “We take that charge very seriously, and our response to this potential pandemic flu is just one example of our readiness and willingness to protect our members who may be in harm’s way.”