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Abstract #163752

Dorothy Wigmore, Occupational hygienist/ergonomist and educator, 538 Greenwood Place, Winnipeg, MB R3G 2P3, Canada, 204-774-4826, dorothyw@web.ca, Nancy Lessin, BA MS, Health and Safety Coordinator, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, 389 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, Jonathan Rosen, MPH, CIH, Health and Safety Department, NYS PEF, 1168 Troy-Schenectady Road, Albany, NY 12212, Robin Baker, MPH, Labor Occupational Health Program, UC Berkeley, 2223 Fulton St., Berkeley, CA 94720-5120, Peter Dooley, MS, CIH, CSP, LaborSafe, 6301 North Zeeb Road, Dexter, MI 48130, Luis Vasquez, UAW Health and Safety Department, 8000 East Jefferson Ave., Detroit, MI 48214, and Joseph Zanoni, MILR, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, 2121 W. Taylor M/C 922, Chicago, IL 60612.

It's one thing to know what needs to be changed to improve health and safety in your workplace. It's another thing to get those changes. Yes, it makes a difference if you're in a unionised environment. But the “how” is still difficult. Whether it's public health in general or worker's occupational health and safety in particular, strategies (the how to) and solutions (the goals) are often confused. How do we separate them? What's the place for economic arguments? How do you build a “case”? Who should be involved and how? This is an opportunity for health and safety activists, popular labour educators, and those working with them, to brainstorm and learn about the experience of others in pressing for health and safety changes. Participants will share and practice using specific tools, methods and processes in facilitated small group discussions and demonstrations. Examples will come from Canadian and U.S. experiences. At the end of the workshop/discussion, participants will list other resources and strategies that may be useful in developing “the case” for meaningful preventive health and safety solutions.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the difference between solutions and strategies, and their importance for successful prevention of occupational health and safety hazards;
• Practice using several strategies and tactics from amongst those presented;
• Analyse the strategies for effectiveness and “lessons” to apply elsewhere; and
• List other resources and strategies for preventive health and safety changes.

Keywords: Occupational Safety, Union

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.