by Mike Hall, Nov 2, 2006

Under a law that took effect in August, most people who performed rescue, recovery or cleanup work after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, are now eligible to register with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.

If someone who is registered develops a 9/11-related illness at any time in the future, he or she will be eligible to file a workers’ compensation claim, according to the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH).

However, failure to register by Aug. 14, 2007, will make it impossible to file a claim, even if the worker develops a 9/11-related illness.

Many workers and volunteers have been prevented from getting compensation because they only began to become sick after the two-year deadline for filing a claim, NYCOSH said. Others who were exposed to the toxic atmosphere in Lower Manhattan are healthy now, but may develop a 9/11-related disease in the future. Under the old rules, they would also have been prevented from receiving benefits, NYCOSH said.

The law applies to most people who did paid or unpaid rescue, recovery or cleanup work in Lower Manhattan south of Canal or Pike Streets between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 12, 2002. It also applies to individuals who worked at the Staten Island landfill, the barge operation between Manhattan and Staten Island or the New York City morgue.

According to NYCOSH, the only workers who are not covered are those who are not in the workers’ compensation system: New York City uniformed services (firefighters, police, sanitation workers), N.Y.C. teachers and federal employees. But even those workers are eligible if they performed any off-duty rescue, recovery or cleanup work, as many of them did, NYCOSH said.

In September, doctors at New York’s Mt. Sinai School of Medicine published a study showing that more than 70 percent of the 9,500 workers and volunteers involved in the 9/11 response who had been examined had developed potentially serious respiratory illness.

Tens of thousands of other rescue and recovery workers and volunteers, many from outside the New  York metropolitan area, have not been examined. Doctors and other health experts fear many will develop serious 9/11-related illnesses from exposure to the toxic stew that swirled around the rubble of the World Trade Center, even though the Bush administration issued pubic assurances at the time that the site was safe.

While the Bush White House has turned its back on the health concerns of the 9/11 workers, New York state reached out to help.

Anyone who already has filed a claim for 9/11-related workers’ compensation and has been turned down because the claim was filed after the two-year deadline may register and file a new claim under the new law, NYCOSH said.

Workers who already have filed for workers’ compensation for injuries suffered during the rescue, recovery or cleanup operation also should register under this program, in case they develop a 9/11-related condition that is different from the basis of their established claim.

In an effort to inform everyone who did paid or unpaid work in Lower Manhattan after 9/11 about the program, a group of medical, labor, occupational safety and health, legal and business organizations (including NYCOSH) have formed a coalition to publicize the program and facilitate registration of anyone who is eligible.

In a recent statement, leaders of the coalition, said:

It is imperative that anyone who worked within the boundaries or at the sites detailed in the law register with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board whether they are sick or not. By joining the registry before the deadline next August, workers and volunteers will preserve their rights to benefits. Failure to register will prevent individuals who may develop cancer or other slow starting diseases from receiving benefits.

For information about registering and filing claims, contact your union or go to http://www.nycosh.org/#911WC. Individual also may call NYCOSH at 212-227-6440, Ext. 23 (English) or Ext. 24 (Spanish).

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