The Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has expressed opposition to a proposed law (Proposed Int. No. 650-B) to amend the administrative code of the City of New York by requiring permits for atmospheric biological, chemical and radiological detectors.

In a letter to New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, ASSE Chapter President Stephanie Altis-Gurnari, CSP, stated that ASSE joins others, including the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), in voicing concern about the negative impact this legislation will have on the practices of safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals.

Founded in 1911, ASSE is the oldest and largest safety organization representing more than 31,000 SH&E practitioners located worldwide. These professionals are committed to preventing workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. Hundreds of ASSE Metropolitan Chapter members work in all areas of New York City's five boroughs in all industries including transportation, construction, healthcare and insurance.

"Enacting the proposed bill will hinder our members' ability to adequately help employers protect employees and the public in many ways," Altis-Gurnari wrote. "We understand the need to take measures to protect New York City's citizens from unnecessary fear of harm from biological, chemical and radiological threats, however, this proposal will not accomplish its aim if it makes every SH&E professional subject to its restrictions and penalties."

Altis-Gurnari urged the city to work with ASSE members to help better define the devices included in this bill and to find better ways to communicate with the public about the use of atmospheric biological, chemical and radiological detectors in the course of normal business.

Among the concerns with the bill are the definitions for alarm, biological agent, biological detector, chemical agent, and chemical detector. ASSE believes these are "so broadly written that the definitions would include instruments that SH&E professionals use on a daily basis and have nothing to do with measuring security risks."

For instance, Altis-Gurnari noted, our members use instruments almost daily that would be covered by these definitions to measure air quality and the presence of chemicals and biological elements that could pose a threat to workers as part of their professional practice. If enacted as written, they would be subject to misdemeanor fines for simply doing their job in helping protect workers from common workplace threats.

ASSE notes that the proposed law subjecting the day-to-day practice of our members to file an emergency action plan (EAP) to be implemented in the event of an alarm is unfeasible given that the use of atmospheric biological, chemical and radiological detectors is often in unknown or unexpected circumstances and not a predictable event. Therefore any EAP filed would be vague and non-specific.

Several other concerns were expressed with the proposed bill. Altis-Gurnari welcomed the opportunity to represent SH&E practitioners as stakeholders in a cooperative process to help resolve the difficulties posed by the proposal and to continue to work to protect people, property and the environment.

Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE has more than 31,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members who manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor and education. For more information please go to http://www.asse.org or to http://metro.asse.org/.

American Society of Safety Engineers