Public Employee Press

Juvenile agency fiddles as passenger van burns

On the afternoon of Sept. 6, Dept. of Juvenile Justice employees Robert Harris and Barbara Morris left Brooklyn Family Court with six residents locked in the back of a DJJ van. Smoke began billowing up. They pulled off the road, unlocked the rear compartment and evacuated their passengers shortly before the van burst into flames.

Quick action by Harris and Morris, members of Juvenile Center Employees Local 1457, saved lives. But the near-fatal accident highlighted the dangerous conditions that prevail at DJJ facilities.

Despite a long campaign on the Labor-Management Safety and Health Committee, none of the three resident facilities for youthful offenders have the mandated emergency action or fire prevention plans.

Fortunately, management’s negligence didn’t result in fatal consequences — this time.
But in practice, every day, the agency takes a cavalier approach to safety and health issues. The blazing van followed another egregious failure.

DJJ never established the required procedures to handle workplace violence — unfortunately a serious possibility on this job — or exposures to blood and blood-borne pathogens such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

State may cite DJJ for violation
As a consequence, the Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau of the state Labor Dept. is considering issuing DJJ a rare citation for violating the “general duty” [to have a safe workplace] clause of the Labor Law.

Local 1457 Vice President Darak Robinson has participated in every aspect of the safety and health campaign at DJJ.

“We’ve been talking about the safety of the vehicles for at least the past four years,” he said. “Our members are often locked in the back with the residents being transported, and with no emergency exit in the rear section, this could have been a catastrophe!”

Agency needs emergency plan
Principal Program Coordinator Guille Mejia said the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. is frustrated with the DJJ’s failure to act responsibly.

“They need an emergency action plan that addresses all emergencies, including procedures for the vans. And all our members at DJJ, including those in the Transportation Unit for Court Services, need to receive training.”

The safety committee has spent years on this struggle. “We’ve provided the agency with all kinds of resources to help them develop emergency action and fire prevention plans,” said Mejia.

“The vans have no emergency exit in the rear. A van used to transport residents is a workplace — just like an ambulance is considered a workplace. This is a horrendous situation — one that could have had a very different ending,” she said.