Public Employee Press

Feds say excessive overtime causes stress at 911

It took 10 years and a federal investigation to determine something that New York City Police Communication Technicians already know: The work of 911 operators and dispatchers is hazardous to their health.

In 1997, DC 37’s Safety and Health Dept. requested an evaluation of on-the-job stress among the 911 emergency response operators and police dispatchers, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health began a comprehensive evaluation of work stressors and noise at the police communications center in Brooklyn.

The Health Hazard Evaluation report NIOSH issued in January confirmed that workplace stress is a major problem. While 42 percent of the workers who participated in the survey reported that they considered “helping the public” as the best part of their job, the mental health of many of these frontline workers is imperiled.

A whopping 32 percent suffer from symptoms related to major depression; 22 percent show signs of anxiety; and 87 percent suffer from muscle or joint pain.

“We provide security for people and don’t even have security for our own families,” said Gail R. Williams, 2nd vice chair of the 911 Chapter of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549. “The amount of overtime is crushing. It’s detrimental to worker safety,” said Williams.

“The union suspects that the excessive overtime is due to a combination of mismanagement, poor scheduling, and understaffing,” said Eddie Gates, assistant Clerical Division director.

The NIOSH report identified the mandatory overtime as a stressor, and Lee Clarke, director of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept., called the overtime “excessive.”

“They are held over, it’s a fact. This causes a major interruption of people’s lives. The NYPD has to find a way to reduce the stress that makes people sick and forces them to take time off from work,” Clarke said.

Gates applauded the study and said Police Dept. management now understands that the NIOSH study backs up what the union has been bringing to the table for years about working condition problems at 911.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts stressed the significance of the federal findings at high-level meetings with city Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley and NYPD management. They agreed that the overtime hazards were interrelated with other problems at 911 and could best be handled in monthly discussions of the issues involving management, the Clerical Division and the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept.

“The NIOSH study validates all the problems that the union has been attempting to deal with through the years,” said Roberts. “We intend to stay on top of this issue and to meet regularly to address all of the critical issues raised in the report.”