Dear CWA Local Officers and OSH Activists:
In your work with telecommunications technicians and other members who perform work outdoors and/or in industrial settings, please encourage Local stewards, occupational safety and health activists, and other members to access and read the CWA heat stress fact sheet as well as go to and complete the on-line heat stress survey. Data gathered from the survey will be analyzed and translated into a report for use in CWA’s collective bargaining, safety and health, education, and mobilizing activities.
Heat Stress is an occupational safety and health problem for thousands of CWA members who perform their work outdoors as well as in residential attics and industrial settings. In order to increase leader and member awareness and action, as well as ensure represented employers are providing affected workers with safe and healthful working conditions, the Union has developed the "CWA Heat Stress campaign" supported by the Telecommunications Strategic Industry Fund. This effort seeks to create safer working conditions through the education of our members, as we have had several deaths related to heat stress.
As part of this program we will distribute a background education piece and a survey on industry practices and member issues. Our new fact sheet and the on-line survey can be accessed on the CWA web page:
- Extreme Heat: What Outdoor Workers Must Know to Protect Their Health When Temperatures Soar
- 2010 CWA Heat Stress Survey
As your Safety and Health Director, I will oversee the analysis of the completed surveys and translate them into a report. We hope that the report will be a useful tool to work with employers in improving safe and healthful working conditions as well as be the foundation for union education, training, and mobilization activities.
Thank you and if you have any questions, please let me know.
In Unity,
Dave LeGrande
CWA Safety and Health Director
