TESTIMONY OF
EDWARD J.
MALLOY
PRESIDENT
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF GREATER NEW YORK
UNITED STATES SENATE
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE ON CLEAN AIR,
WETLANDS, AND CLIMATE CHANGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2002 ALEXANDER HAMILTON U.S. CUSTOMS HOUSE ONE BOWLING GREEN, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Good morning Mr. Chairman and members
of the subcommittee. My name is Edward J. Malloy. I serve as president of the
Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, an organization
consisting of sixty affiliated local unions and district councils representing
more than 100,000 working men and women in New York City. I also serve as an
appointee of Governor George E. Pataki to the eleven-member Board of Directors
of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation. Thank you for the opportunity
to testify before the subcommittee and for bringing this hearing to New York.
On the morning of September 11, 2001,
nearly every unionized construction project in New York City shut down as
workers rushed to Ground Zero. In the early days of this tragedy, it is
estimated that more than ten thousand of our members volunteered their skills
on the site. In the ensuing weeks and months since, when the City of New York's
Department of Design and Construction (DDC) assigned recovery and clean-up
responsibilities to a team of the area's most respected contractors,
approximately two thousand of our members per day were employed in two
around-the-clock shifts of twelve hours each. Today, as this recovery and
clean-up effort moves toward conclusion, several hundred of our members remain
on the job.
In testifying before the subcommittee
this morning, we would like to draw your attention to two areas of interest and
concern. The first is the record on measurable safety and health data and the partnership
between labor, management, and government which has produced rather impressive
results in this regard. The second is the less certain issue of how we address
safety and health exposures which are not as easily detectable as common bumps
and bruises. On this second front, although significant efforts through our
safety and health partnership have been made to prevent such exposures, there
is an immediate need for clinical medical services to be made available to
identify and treat any conditions that may not have been prevented or yet
detected.
First, on November 20, 2001, the
Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York joined with the
Building Trades Employers Association, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), and other public and private entities working at Ground
Zero to implement an emergency safety and health partnership agreement on the
site. A copy of this agreement is attached to our testimony for your
consideration. It should be stressed that prior to this agreement being
executed, labor and management in our industry had been working under less
formal but effective means with OSHA and DDC to assure the implementation of a
safety and health program in which every member of the building and construction
industry on the site was required to participate.
The results of this partnership and
other cooperative efforts are encouraging. With more than two million hours of
labor completed, there have been ninety-six claims for workers' compensation reported.
Of these claims, thirteen have resulted in lost time due to injury or illness.
No deaths or life-threatening injuries have occurred. All experts with whom we
have consulted advise that the number of injuries and illnesses, as well as
their relative severity, are well below what might have been expected. It is
our intention, with both a continuation and expansion of the commitment to
safety and health, that this record be maintained and improved. As we are sure
the subcommittee is aware, however, the circumstances of this project dictate
that good providence in addition to the most diligent human attention to safety
and health concerns will be required if our intentions are to be fulfilled.
The second matter of concern pertains
to the need for clinical medical services to be made available to every
individual who has either resided, volunteered, or been employed at Ground Zero
or in the nearby vicinity, particularly in the earliest days of this tragedy
when it would seem that the potential for exposures to contaminants was at its
highest. We appreciate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's efforts to secure $12
million for this purpose and submit to the subcommittee that additional funding
must be provided to assure that every individual whose health has potentially
been adversely affected by activities at or near Ground Zero is able to receive
clinical medical services.
It is vitally important that individuals who may have
been exposed to contaminants be screened and, if necessary, treated. Doing so
will assure to the highest degree possible that conditions which can be treated
and resolved are, and that conditions which may entail longer term consequences
can be treated in a way that mitigates or even eliminates such consequences.
Taking action on this matter in a
timely fashion will not only minimize the potential for human suffering, but
also represent a responsible approach to minimizing the negative fiscal implications
of healthcare and insurance costs which have come to be associated with the
events of September 11.
It is also really important
that these services be made available in a well-organized and centrally accountable
manner so that a comprehensive and professional evaluation can be made of what
the systemic exposures to contaminants and health problems at Ground Zero have
been. To date, the majority of scientific evaluation of which we are aware has
occurred with regard to monitoring contaminants in the air, water, and soil. It
has not occurred as thoroughly in monitoring the blood, respiratory, and other
body systems of human beings who may have been harmed by these exposures. We
have attached for your consideration an initial proposal by the Mount Sinai
Medical Center to provide the clinical medical services needed to address this
situation for members of the building and construction industry. We of course
support such services being made available to any other affected individuals.
Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee, the losses and devastation caused by the events of September 11
are well-known. It is imperative that every effort be made to assure that no
further unnecessary and preventable tragedies result, whether ten days or ten
years from now. The provision of funding to make clinical medical services
available to all individuals who need them is among the most important work
that we believe the federal government can undertake going forward. We do not
hesitate to argue that it is a particular moral obligation to assure that those
men and women who responded so selflessly and even heroically to the events of
September 11 receive every possible consideration for their well-being that can
be offered. We will be pleased to cooperate with you in every way to achieve
this goal.
Thank you.