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Washington D.C. — The leader of the union representing thousands of front-line homeland security employees has asked the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to halt a mandatory training exercise on the use of pepper spray after a recent federal report painted a dismal portrait of the agency’s lax oversight and poor safety controls.

The report, issued in June by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), was requested by NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley in response to an April 2006 incident at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Ga., where two CBP Officers (CBPOs) and one instructor suffered eye injuries after they were exposed to an oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray, otherwise known as pepper spray, during a required drill. One CBPO who was sprayed in the face at close range suffered permanent eye damage that will eventually require corneal transplant surgery.

“This (NIOSH) report shows that CBP is incapable of administering such an inherently dangerous exercise,” Kelley said in a recent letter to CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham. In it, Kelley urged Basham to permanently end the OC spray training program and implement several safety reforms. “CBP has a legal duty to ensure the health and safety of its workforce; a duty that has been callously disregarded,” she said.

Expressing concern about the potential for future injuries – CBP requires all newly hired CBPOs to become OC spray certified – Kelley pointed to several key safety regulation violations cited in the NIOSH report, including:

• FLETC policy requires that all OC spray canisters be no less than four feet from the individual being sprayed. In the incident in question, the OC spray container was much closer.

• The spray used in the incident had a rating of 15 million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), which is more than seven and a half times higher than the two million SHU rating considered safe under FLETC directives.

• CBP did not document the training given the instructors administering the exercise, as required, nor did it adhere to FLETC directives requiring it to evaluate the instructors’ overall performance during the training.

• CBP failed to keep proper documentation about the types of OC spray used during the exercise, as well as the sprays’ effects on trainees.

To prevent similar accidents from occurring, NTEU is asking for the following reforms:

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Eliminate requirements that CBPOs be exposed to pepper spray as a condition of employment at the agency.

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Provide NTEU with a thorough explanation as to what actions have been taken – and when they were taken – to address health and safety concerns reflected in the NIOSH report.

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Describe any disciplinary action CBP has taken against the supervisors in charge of the April 2006 incident.

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Confirm that the final NIOSH report has been posted at, or near, work areas of affected CBP employees, as recommended.

NTEU also filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with both CBP and FLETC seeking any and all documents related to the 2006 training exercise and the subsequent investigation.

“Exposing CBPOs to OC spray as a job requirement is cruel and unnecessary under the best of circumstances,” Kelley said. “It is simply unacceptable to require newly hired CBPOs to serve as guinea pigs to test various types of OC products.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing more than 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including 21,000 in CBP.