[Adopted 9-11-1987 by L.L. No. 35-1987 (Ch. 82, Art. II, of the 1985 Code)]
A. 
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that it is in the public interest to provide County employees who operate video displays with a safe and healthy work environment. This Legislature further determines that, although some employers and manufacturers have recognized and implemented minimum safeguards in equipment and workstation design and work routine in order to better protect the health and well-being of employees who operate video display terminals on a regular basis, the vast majority of terminal operators remain as yet unprotected.
B. 
Therefore, it is the intent of this Legislature to protect the health and safety of video display terminal operators working for the County of Suffolk by requiring the County of Suffolk to implement widely recognized employee safeguards so as to prevent harm and injury to such workers.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
EMPLOYEE
Any person engaged to work on a constant, regular, nonintermittent basis as an operator by the County of Suffolk.
EMPLOYER
The County of Suffolk.
OPERATOR
Any employee who normally operates a terminal for an employer, 26 or more hours per week.
TERMINAL
Any electronic video screen data presentation machine, commonly denominated as "video display terminals" (VDTs) or "cathode-ray tubes" (CRTs). Nothing in this article may be construed to apply to televisions, cash registers, memory typewriters or oscilloscope screens, except to the extent that they are used as terminals for presentation of verbal or numerical data.
A. 
Vision examinations.
(1) 
Any individual who is to be assigned by an employer as an operator shall receive, with the written permission of such employee, an ophthalmological/optometric examination conforming to the minimum standard testing procedures established by the American Optometric Association with a view to the specific requirements of visual correction that may be needed by an operator for the job, before beginning an assignment, or within 30 days thereafter, and again in each subsequent year the operator is so employed. Where employees have been assigned as operators prior to the effective date of this article, they shall receive such an examination within 90 days of the effective date of this article. This examination may be performed at the direction of an employer on a day or at a time during which the employee is not required to be present at his place of employment.
(2) 
Every employer shall maintain records sufficient to verify its compliance with Subsection A of this section.
(3) 
The employer shall:
(a) 
Pay the full cost of initial and annual ophthalmological or optometric examinations for each operator required under this article through an insurance policy or by direct payment to the provider of care;
(b) 
Pay the full cost of any lenses required as a result of the operator's work on the terminals; and
(c) 
Permit the employee to select the provider of the examination required by this section, except as otherwise provided under any previously negotiated group health-care agreement or policy or pertinent collective bargaining agreement.
(4) 
No employer shall use the results of any ophthalmological or optometric examination required by this section to screen prospective operators for suitability for employment.
B. 
Workstation standards. Every employer shall provide user-adjustable workstations and chairs, which shall meet the following minimum requirements:
(1) 
Seat pans and backrests of chairs shall be upholstered. Firmness of seat pans and backrests shall be at a twenty-millimeter compression.
(2) 
Seat pans shall be adjustable for height, the adjustment mechanism for which shall be operable by the user from a seated position.
(3) 
Backrests shall be adjustable for height and to positions behind and forward of the vertical position, the adjustment mechanism for which shall be operable by the user from a seated position.
(4) 
Chairs shall be capable of being swiveled by the user and shall be supported by five legs.
(5) 
The video display terminal table shall have a height and angle-adjustable platform for the video display screen. The requirement of an angle-adjustable platform may be satisfied by use of a video display unit equipped with an angle-adjustable screen.
(6) 
The video display terminal table shall have a height- and angle-adjustable sliding keyboard platform. The requirement of an angle-adjustable keyboard platform may be satisfied by use of a video display unit equipped with an angle-adjustable keyboard.
(7) 
All video display terminals shall be equipped with a detachable keyboard.
(8) 
The employer shall provide a copyholder which can be adjusted by the user in position and angle.
(9) 
Office lighting shall be indirect or direct lighting shielded by appropriate parabolic louvers. Where individual workstation lighting is provided, it shall be adjustable by the user so that it can be directed at the reference material and not at the screen surface.
(10) 
Direct light, surface reflections and glare shall be reduced by use of the following methods, as appropriate:
(a) 
Video display terminals shall be positioned in relation to artificial and natural light sources in such a way as to minimize the light coming directly from such sources into the operator's eyes and glare reflected from the video display screen or machine surfaces into the operator's eyes.
(b) 
Video display screens shall, at the user's request, be fitted with contrast-enhancement filters or mesh screens.
(c) 
Keyboard tops shall be finished in a dull or matte finish to reduce reflection from overhead light sources.
(11) 
Direct noise shall be reduced by placing covers over impact printers or by isolating sources of noise such as impact printers from the rest of the work environment, and reflected noise from these sources shall be reduced by the use of sound-absorbing materials in the work environment.
C. 
Work breaks. Employers shall provide flexible work breaks, consistent with the terms of pertinent collective bargaining agreements in effect, if any, as required by the nature and intensity of the work. The following minimum standard shall apply: No operator shall be required to work at a terminal continuously for more than three hours without a fifteen-minute break for alternate work, which work shall be considered part of the working day. Such work break shall not entitle any employee to refuse to perform any other work to be assigned to such employee consistent with the provisions of any pertinent collective bargaining agreement.
D. 
Employee education and training.
(1) 
An employer shall establish an education and training program for all operators, which shall inform them orally and in writing of the nature of the potential health hazards, if any, to which they may be exposed in the course of their employment. Such training shall include, at a minimum, a description of the symptoms which may be associated with terminal use, a description or explanation of the literature concerning the cases of such symptoms and an explanation of the protective measures which may be taken to reduce or alleviate them. Such training shall also provide operators with information concerning the ergonomically proper and safe procedures for using terminals and terminal equipment and shall fully describe the requirements of this article and employee rights under it.
(2) 
An employer shall provide current operators with this education and training program within six months after the effective date of this article, and annually thereafter. Beginning six months after the effective date of this article, all new operators shall be provided with the training and education program within the first month of employment as operators.
No employer shall discharge, or cause to be discharged, or otherwise discipline, or in any manner discriminate against any employee because such employee has filed any complaint or has instituted, or caused to be instituted, any proceeding under or related to the provisions of this article, or has testified or is about to testify, in any such proceeding, or because of the exercise of any right afforded pursuant to the provisions of this article on such employee's behalf or on the behalf of others, nor shall any pay, position, seniority or other benefits be lost as a result of the exercise of any right provided by this article.
Section 110-12B of this article shall apply only to equipment leased or purchased after January 1, 1989. Employers shall have six months from the effective date of this article to comply with all other provisions of §§ 110-12 and 110-13 of this article.