AFGE questions Ebola protection efforts for frontline feds

By Elise Garofalo
Federal News Radio

Federal workers are the nation’s first line of defense against Ebola, and a union that represents some of them wants to make sure every protection is in place to keep them safe.

The American Federation of Government Employees has urged the White House and Congress to create mandatory, enforceable safety guidelines for federal workplaces and other private facilities facing the viral threat. AFGE President J. David Cox recently spoke with Federal Drive host Tom Temin about that effort.

One of the top priorities for AFGE is to quickly provide government employees accurate, actionable information on the situation.

Cox said the union has been asking for “constant briefings, not just a one-time briefing … proper equipment, proper training, the monitoring, and making sure the employees understand the training to do all the things to protect themselves as they go about doing their routine work.”

The union wants to be more involved in coordinating workplace protocols, and wants feedback from those spearheading the response, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Cox stressed the need for universal precautions and constant monitoring of the work environment.

“One of the things that has concerned us is… it is not mandatory that agencies or private sector companies follow these [CDC and OSHA] procedures,” he said.

Cox added his organization would support an executive order from President Barack Obama to make those guidelines mandatory. He would like to see their procedures enforced at private sector hospitals and corporations in addition to government agencies.

Cox warned that organizations with high risk must have a system in place “where if somebody is breaking procedures, that is immediately brought to someone’s attention and is corrected.”

The effort to prevent the spread of Ebola in the United States starts with employees in the Department of Homeland Security. Customs and Border Protection agents have been installed at five major airports to screen passengers arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea for symptoms indicative of Ebola. DHS is also involved in identifying and screening people from those nations who arrive in the U.S. by land or sea. Transportation Security Administration officers face similar workplace concerns. They routinely have close contact with people coming into the country from around the world.

While travelers may want to zip through the airport, agents must be allotted ample time to implement best practices. These include donning the right protective gear and having frequent breaks to wash up, sanitize, change into fresh gloves and wipe down work areas.

Military service members who have been deployed to West Africa also encounter a higher risk of exposure, despite the fact that the American military mission does not involve direct care for victims. Cox said DoD facilities should be prepared in the event that any troops contract Ebola and are brought back to the U.S. for treatment.

The Obama administration has also developed rapid response teams, or what the President called, “a SWAT team, essentially,” to be sent within hours to any U.S. city where a new Ebola case appears. Those teams are composed of federal critical care nurses, infectious disease doctors and experts in infectious disease protocol. The teams will work with hospitals to deal with any cases of the virus.

Cox emphasized the importance of all sectors of government during a crisis such as this one. He cited the immediate response of transportation security and border officials, the ongoing care provided by the National Institutes of Health, the guidance of the CDC and OSHA, and the long-term solutions that could come from breakthroughs by government scientists.

“Only the government is going to do all those types of things,” he said. “Those things are just not usually done in the private sector.”

Despite the focus on Ebola, Cox said there is no reason to panic — and that these workplace measures would actually be most useful in fighting off more common winter afflictions, like colds and the flu.

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