Improving safety on the job for IBEW brothers and sisters across North America. Providing insight to legislative bodies and industry leaders. Aiding the Brotherhood in its organizing efforts.
Local unions do all those things when they use Form 173 to report accidents on the job to the International Office.
The number of local unions registered for the system used to report accidents increased by 11% in just more than one year, Safety Director Mark MacNichol said. It is available at ibew.org. Click on Safety & Health under the department listings.
But while he’s pleased with that, MacNichol is encouraging more to step up. Only about 7% of all locals actually reported jobsite accidents during the past year, even though it is required by the IBEW Constitution (Article XV, Section 15, page 47).
“We learn from the incident,” MacNichol said. “They are never released to an employer.”
MacNichol said he is often asked by business managers and other local officials how other IBEW locals have handled a safety situation they are facing. That job is easier when they are filling out their accident reports.
“If we don’t have reporting,” he said, “we can’t even help our own brothers and sisters.”
That was part of the message MacNichol and others delivered at the first-ever Safety Conference, held earlier this year.
“When we are fighting for OSHA standards, for instance, the labor movement likes to cite actual instances where if we had this protection in place, this could have been mitigated,” said Tarn Goelling, an international representative in the Safety Department. “Form 173 entries help us to inform during those times. We can draw on real-life scenarios that have occurred.”
Goelling noted that employers are not required to turn in accident reports to the IBEW.
“The labor movement will sometimes ask workers to testify before Congress and other legislative bodies specifically about their personal experiences,” she said. “The only way the IBEW can tap into those experiences is through Form 173.”
Safety has been a foundation of the IBEW since its birth in 1891. Founder Henry Miller formed the Brotherhood because an inordinate amount of linemen were dying on the job while working with the new technology electricity.
It since has been a key part of all IBEW sectors. The Safety Department is having t-shirts made with the Miller quote: “to prevent accidents if each man learning the business should work under the jurisdiction of the brotherhood.”
International President Kenneth W. Cooper said reporting accidents on the job is vital and reminds local unions of their constitutional mandate.
“Safety is a key to our organizing efforts,” Cooper said. “Because of our ability to speak up, ask questions and talk about something that is unsafe on the job, IBEW members are safer than our nonunion counterparts. That has a lot of appeal when you’re talking about the value of union membership.”
MacNichol pledged that he, Goelling and Safety Department staff member Brittany Scroggins will continue to explore ways to make submitting reports easier for local unions.
The IBEW is a member of the National Safety Council, a leading nonprofit devoted to preventing injuries and death on the job. It often seeks out the IBEW for advice, MacNichol said.
The more accident reports the International Office has, the better information it can provide.
“Each L.U. shall investigate and report to the I.O. all serious lost time accidents and fatalities …. Reports shall be submitted using the web-based, electronic version of Form 173 I.B.E.W. Report of Occupational Injury, Illness and Fatality.”
– Article XV, Section 15 of the IBEW Constitution
