[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:
Any person engaged to work on a constant, regular, nonintermittent
basis as an operator by the County of Suffolk.
The County of Suffolk.
Any employee who normally operates a terminal for an employer,
26 or more hours per week.
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.
