24-Hour Hotline Assistance: 1-866-562-3480

When members’ lives are at stake, our first responsibility is to respond, and when safety may be compromised, our first duty is to make all those affected aware.

The cooperation of local union officers is essential in the efforts of the United Steelworkers to improve worker health and safety, with the goal to reduce both workplace accidents and deaths.

The local union officers are the critical first link to members. Our Emergency Response Team (ERT) relies on the notification from our local unions as quickly as possible following a fatality or catastrophic incident.

History and Function of the ERT Program

The Emergency Response Team originated with the Oil Chemical & Atomic Workers union (OCAW), a predecessor to PACE and became a part of the USW when the two unions merged last year.

ERT coordinator Al McDougall and team member Duronda Pope

Typically, emergencies that cost a life or result in life-altering injuries are reported to an ERT hotline, 866-526-3480, by a local union president or staff representative. The hotline is available 24 hours a day.

As soon as is practical, ERT members are on their way to the accident site, often on the same day. Those on call include program coordinator Al McDougall and team member Duronda Pope.

The team essentially acts a bridge between the company and the family of the injured or deceased worker. Typically, ERT members press the employer for help with immediate family needs and with funeral costs if they are not included in the contract.

If legal assistance is requested by the family, the ERT will help with referrals, said McDougall, a former union miner who became involved with employee assistance programs years ago.

Team members often make follow up visits months later to check up on family members and to offer co-workers counseling and work shops on grief and coping skills.

Sample Emergency Response Team functions:

Serve as victim advocates
Coordinate support for victims and families
Act as liaison between families and the employer and families and the local union
Help victims and families secure legal representation if necessary
Provide referrals to local therapists who understand the needs of organized labor and of those dealing with loss and trauma

ERT NEWS:____________

"No Steelworker left behind"

When Tragedy Strikes

Within 24 hours after Ethan Allen V. Boyer was killed in an aluminum plant explosion, a member of the USW's Emergency Response Team was knocking on his mother's door in Arkansas to offer assistance.

Iris Clegg, Ethan's mother, welcomed the help from the USW's Duronda Pope. Clegg was, after all, stunned and confused by the sudden death of her 19-yearold son and his coworker, John Albert Cobb.

Young Boyer was new to the job.

"It means a lot when people don't know you, but they take time to stop and to show compassion, to help you to get over the hump that you need to get over," Gregg said.

"Duronda was awesome," Gregg said. "She gave us an insight into what the Steelworkers are about and they are about helping employees. You feel there is somebody on your side. It's not just you against the company."

Boyer and Cobb, 43, were working in a production area of Arkansas Aluminum Alloys where scrap aluminum is melted and formed into ingots when the explosion occurred at 3: 10 a.m. last Oct. 31. A third person suffered minor injuries at the plant, located near Hot Springs, Ark.

When Pope arrived, she intervened with the employer to make sure the immediate needs of Boyer's family were met. She helped with worker's compensation paper work and other issues in those foggy days after the accident.

"When you meet at that time, at the moment people are going through such a tragic time, it is so personal," Pope said, adding that families are often at first in shock and denial over a fatality or injury. "You just try to do everything you can do."

The program originated with the Oil Chemical & Atomic Workers union (OCAW), a predecessor to PACE and was adopted by the USW when the unions merged in 2005.

Hotline number

Typically, emergencies that cost a life or result in life-altering injuries are reported to the ERT hotline, 866-526-3480, by a local union president or staff representative. The hotline is available 24 hours a day.

As soon as is practical, ERT members travel to the accident site, often on the same day. Those on call include ERT coordinator Al McDougall, team members Pope and Hilary Chiz.

"I'm always packed. I always have a bag ready to go," said Pope.

The ERT and the Health, Safety and Environment Department travel to accident sites with the goals of aiding local unions and the families of victims, McDougall stressed.

"We're not coming in to take over or change anything, to harm the relationship the local has with the company - whether it's a good relationship or not," he said. "We're just there to assist."

Acting as a bridge

The team essentially acts as a bridge between the company and the family of the injured or deceased worker. Typically, ERT members press the employer for help with immediate family needs and with funeral costs if they are not included in the contract.

"Ninety nine percent of the time the employers help," Pope said. "But sometimes I have to shame them into assisting the family.' "

It's not unusual for ERT members to help families with housing at the time of the funeral and later to get started on the paperwork, such as workman's compensation claims and the probate process.

There are sometimes unusual requests, too. Pope recalls an ll-year-old boy asking her to describe how his father died in an industrial fall and if he could see where it happened. She complied with assistance from the employer.

If legal assistance is requested by the family, the ERT will help with referrals, said McDougall, a former union miner from Canada who became involved with employee assistance programs years ago.

Follow-up visits

Team members also make follow-up visits months later to check up on family members and to offer co-workers counseling and work shops on grief and coping skills.

"Three months, six months later people have accepted the fact but there is still anger, and then there is a sort of sadness," McDougall said.

There are as many tragic stories as industrial accidents.

Here are a few recent examples of accidents responded to by the Emergency Response Team.

Gordon Hickman, a USW member and foundry worker from Canton, Ohio, fell into a pit after pouring a bucket of hot molten metal into a cylinder-shaped mold. As his co-workers scrambled to help him, molten metal busted loose from the mold, spraying him.

A South Texas member, John Dorton, died after inhaling hydrogen fluoride gas while working in an Alcoa plant in Point Comfort, Texas. A young oil contract worker, Mario Vasquez, was killed at a Conoco Phillips refinery near Los Angeles when an adjustable roof over an empty tank collapsed on him.

Wife in a fog

Carol Luketic was in a fog after she learned that her husband, Paul, died last November after being crushed between a steel support column and a fork lift truck hauling a 9,500-pound ingot.

The fork lift was apparently backing up at the Electroalloy plant in Oil City, Pa. to put the ingot on a weigh station when Luketic, 58, was pinned.

"It was very shocking. I couldn't think - just couldn't think," Mrs. Luketic said of the moments after learning her husband had died.

"You know the nightmare where you dial the telephone and you just can't get the numbers? I couldn't call my girlfriend's number and I dialed it a hundred million times."

_______Testimonials on the ERT Program_______

Originally sent to District 2 Director, Jon Geenen

Dear Mr. Geenen,

As you know, our son, Kevin Wilson was killed while performing his job at Locul 1900 in South Lyon, Michigan last September. Since then we have been very grateful for the outpouring of compassion expressed to us by the United Steelworkers. We were moved to tears by your thoughtful letter and the generous contributions of the USW membership. We accept your kindness with hwnility, gratitude and heavy hearts. It is our utter grief that compels us to use this opportunity to convey our message to you.

The loss of our son to a workplace accident has been by far the hardest thing we have ever had to bear. It has broken our hearts and tormented our minds to know that our son went to work to perform a job to the best of his ability and died doing so.

Nobody should have to hear the words, "Your son (or other loved one) was killed at work today." Nobody should have to die while performing their job. Nobody should have to accept that a life with their loved one has been traded for a legacy of hope for the future of others, but because this is all we have now, please don't let us down.

It is our deepest hope and our sincerest wish that your stated "resolve to create safer workplaces" for your membership will lead to more than words. Please don't count on procedure ...

Originally sent to District 1 Director, Dave McCall

Dave, this is regarding the fatality of Jeffery Johnson from L.U. 12049. I just wanted to express my thanks to Steve Sallman and Allan McDougall for their assistance and quick response on this matter. The officers and members that they spoke to and counseled could not be more pleased with the actions of the Emergency Response Team. These individuals have a very difficult job, especially when it involves a fatality. I just wanted you to know how much this local appreciated their being there for them and Brother Johnson’s family.

David W. McLean

Originally sent to District 13 Director, Mickey Breaux

Mickey,
As you know we recently had fatalities in the mills in Bogalusa, and St. Francisville, LA. I just wanted to let you know that the Emergency Response Team visits to these locations was more helpful than the Locals or I could have hoped for.

Allan McDougall visited both locations and provided counseling to the employees and family members and I have been told many times how much this was appreciated by the Locals and members. In both cases this
followed visits by the Company's Employee Assistance Program counselors and in both cases I was told how much better our guy was.

Steve Sallman investigated the fatality at St. Francisville and Don Faulkner at Bogalusa. The investigation was conducted professionally and completely. In both cases they were conducted following the OSHA investigation and our Locals and members commented to me how much more thorough a job our guys did.

We are planning a follow-up visit at both locations in April which I feel sure will only help our members and the victims' families further.

I just wanted to let you know how well things went in such a hard time for these locations and how much our International's presence helped.

By the way, both Companies even communicated to me how much help our Union was in these difficult times.
Mike Tourne'

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“I didn’t realize that the Union did this sort of counseling. Keep up the good work.”

- Jim, Louisiana

“You people are a godsend.”

- Stanley, Missouri

“I had always disliked my husband paying union dues. I did not realize then that the USW offered these wonderful services.”

- Shirley, Indiana

“We are so glad that you came to help us.”

- Local Union Members of Mississippi