[Nhcoll-l] Protecting pregnant workers or others with certain health conditions

[Dirk Neumann]

Dear Kathryn,
deal all,

as I said, we do not sign away our responsibilities for permanent staff:

1. In the case that a colleague of our lab team would become pregnant, 
we would hire a substitute employee (ideally a future PhD candidate) 
that could replace her. In fact, this is far beyond our legal 
responsibility. All people working in the lab receive a thorough 
security advice which needs to be signed. This protects us as institute 
from wrongdoing of misbehaving individuals (and sadly there is 
experience especially from Universities in Munich why this is 
necessary). The reason is, that we do have a different legal system 
here, as already pointed out. So you cannot compare directly. Main 
difference is: in case of a severe accident, not the employee jumps in, 
but the Employer's Liability Insurance Association (one of those 
insurance you have to take ... and pays not only your bills but also for 
recovery in case of severe accidents).

2. This is completely different for a visitor, as he/she is (as a matter 
of fact) and can not be insured under our Employer's Liability Insurance 
Association.

Therefore, we need to exclude any liability for visitors working in our 
collection or the lab. Of course, he receives the same thorough security 
advices as our employees,
the same "safe and healthful" workplace as for all other colleagues and 
we explicitly inform visitors about possible hazards and risk they can't 
know and maybe wouldn't expect. But visitors are not covered under any 
insurance (unless the one of his/her employee, if his/her visit is an 
official trip and thus the "visit" falls into the responsibility the 
respective employer). Thus, especially if your institution could be sued 
for wrongdoing of external people "misbehaving" for whatever reason 
on/inside your compound, you should exclude liability and responsibility 
as far as possible.

But as I said, individual measures need to be considered under 
respective national laws. Part of these considerations should be a 
liability exclusion to restrict the accountability of your institution 
towards visitors.

Hope this further clarifies and helps excluding potential 
misinterpretation of my previous posting ...
All the best

Dirk


Am 13.02.2015 um 18:45 schrieb Kathryn Makos:
> With all respect to Dr. Neumann, you really cannot ever sign your rights
> away when it comes to safety regulations (at least not in the U.S.) and this
> may not be the way to look at this.  Let's flip the question.  You don't
> have your employees sign a waiver right?  Because, of course, you as the
> employer are legally and ethically responsible to provide (as OSHA says) a
> "safe and healthful workplace" and this absolutely applies to anyone (not
> just employees) that you have permitted to work in or visit/access your
> collections.  Interns, visitors, post-docs, research scientists,
> contractors.  In the U.S., the Hazard Communication standard's intent is
> that everyone be informed up front about possible hazards/risks and the
> facility's control policies and equipment in place for them to use.
>
> Here are a few ideas: First, this is not about pregnancy as much as it is
> about: how do you safely accommodate a worker with health conditions that
> can be negatively affected by the hazards?  The CA Academy of Sciences must
> have some sort of Safety Policy, possibly a Safety Mgr? and probably some
> account with an occupational health clinic or can locate one easily enough
> through their insurance risk manager.  First start with informing the
> pregnant worker what hazard controls (respirator? Gloves? HEPA vacuum?
> Housekeeping procedures to remove arsenical particulates?) you already
> require under the laws and California safety laws are among the strictest in
> the nation.  Then, that pregnant worker should be evaluated by your (or her
> own) health care provider as to her health status against the hazards she
> will likely encounter.  The doctor then is the one who determines what she
> can do and offer accommodation suggestions to the facility.  Some pregnant
> workers cannot wear a respirator, for instance, due to complicating
> problems.  Some could.  The health care provider makes that call and should
> be in contact with you.
>
> Another suggestion: the University of California system (particularly at
> Davis) has one of the finest sets of Environmental, Health and Safety
> policies and resources around.  I strongly encourage you to contact your
> nearest one for their advice on how they deal with this issue.
>
> But, you are still responsible for making sure health risks are reduced and
> so apply some good sensibilities about how at-risk your worker might
> potentially be and protect her accordingly.
>
> Best regards,
> Kathryn Makos MPH CIH
> Industrial Hygienist
> (Ret) Smithsonian Institution
>
>
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>     1. Protocols for Hazardous Materials use by pregnant	researchers
>        (Flannery, Moe)
>     2. Re: Protocols for Hazardous Materials use by pregnant
>        researchers (Dirk Neumann)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 17:07:15 +0000
> From: "Flannery, Moe" <MFlannery at calacademy.org>
> Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Protocols for Hazardous Materials use by pregnant
> 	researchers
> To: "nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> Message-ID:
> 	<5C50A2FFF4983F4B81F7CC2C6BAD9991259B40E7 at MAILBOX01.calacademy.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hello all-
>
> Do any of your organizations have a formal protocol outlining the use of
> specimens that may contain hazardous materials (i.e. arsenic, formalin) by
> staff or researchers who are pregnant? We had a request from a visiting
> researcher who is pregnant to work in the bird skin collection which does
> contain arsenic. Unfortunately our institutional chemical hygiene protocol
> for arsenic does not address pregnancy.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions or copies of protocols if available.
>
> Best,
> Moe
>
> Maureen Flannery
> Ornithology and Mammalogy Collection Manager California Academy of Sciences
> p.
> = >
>
> 55 Music Concourse Drive
> Golden Gate Park
> San Francisco, CA 94118
>
>
>
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 18:38:46 +0100
> From: Dirk Neumann <dirk.neumann at zsm.mwn.de>
> Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Protocols for Hazardous Materials use by
> 	pregnant researchers
> To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> Message-ID: <54DCE526.3010002 at zsm.mwn.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Dear Moe,
>
> this is a question of liability. We do it the other way round in our
> histology & DNA lab (especially in the histology which works with poisonous
> osmium tetroxid): we explain the health risks properly, refer to the msds
> sheets which list all known hazards, and then let pregnant women who wish to
> work in the lab sign a document that they have been informed about potential
> health risks (in a thorough safety briefing), and that we do not take any
> responsibility or liability.
>
> Our advice for permanent staff is: do not enter the lab area. For visitors,
> you cannot take any responsibility anyway, but I guess because of the legal
> system in the US you could be sued. As you probably don't know the exact
> history of your specimens anyway (could include also other poisons or
> poisonous products resulting from secondary reactions), I would avoid to
> target for any protocol on specific (single) chemicals anyway, because you
> can't include the rest you don't know.
>
> Consequently, I would warn explicitly for any eventual risks potentially
> linked with the material, and let the visitor sign that he understood, knows
> and accepts that you will not take any responsibility or liability.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Dirk
>
>
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-- 
Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
email: Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de

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Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns
Zoologische Staatssammlung München
Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Labor
Münchhausenstr. 21
81247 München

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---------

Dirk Neumann

Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
email: Dirk.Neumann(a)zsm.mwn.de

postal address:

Bavarian Natural History Collections
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Lab
Muenchhausenstr. 21
81247 Munich (Germany)

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