Resolutions on Safety and Health Adopted at the 2022 Special Convention

During the 2022 Special Convention held in Boston, the Committee on Safety referred five Resolutions – Resolutions 52-56 – to the Convention floor. Each of the Committee’s recommendations was unanimously adopted by the Convention. 

Resolution No. 52 urged OSHA to continue to effectively enforce its critically important comprehensive silica standard, and to regularly update Table 1 of that standard to make sure that the most effective controls are in place to protect worker safety. The Resolution also called on IMI and local training centers to continue to provide robust training and support for new tools and technology that will minimize the risk associated with silica exposure.

Resolution No. 53 called on BAC to continue to work with others in the industry and the labor movement to protect all workers’ lives through a strong commitment to occupational safety. It also called on the United States and Canadian Governments to vigorously enforce worker safety laws to further reduce the number of injuries, illnesses and fatalities on the job, including swift passage, signing, and enforcement of the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality
Prevention Act.

Resolution No. 54 concerned climate change and jobsite effects like extreme heat. It called on BAC Local Unions and ADCs to enforce the provisions of their collective bargaining agreements that ensure such workplace provisions as rest breaks and ready access to drinking water, and to reinforce the role of stewards in monitoring potentially dangerous work sites or conditions, as well as individual worker response to adverse conditions.  The Resolution also called on BAC Locals and ADCs to continue to seek improved regulations and enforcement both at the federal, state, provincial, and local levels, including adoption of a national heat stress standard under OSHA, and new state standards influenced by those of California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington.

Resolution No. 55 called on BAC to continue to urge OSHA to implement a COVID-19 standard that will keep all workers safe on the job, and to conduct classroom, online, and webinar training on pandemic preparedness to ensure BAC members are afforded the right to work safely in the event of another similar viral outbreak.

Resolution No. 56 reaffirmed BAC’s commitment to safety training at the International and local levels. It called on BAC Local Unions and ADCs to ensure that their apprenticeship and training programs participate in IMTEF’s Train-the-Trainer Safety Programs and that their trainer(s) are certified to perform OSHA 10, OSHA30, and MSHA training.

“These resolutions help set our tone and focus for the next few years,” said Executive Vice President Jerry Sullivan. “Safety has always been one of the union’s top priorities and I thank all the Safety Committee Members for their work.”

For more on the 2022 BAC Special Convention, see here.