Re: Position Announcement - Cornell - 40 lbs of dust

["Kevin. Mac Donnell" <info@MACDONNELLRAREBOOKS.COM>]

Physical requirements must be justified by the job description. For example,
fire-fighters you must be able to do certain tasks (drag a dummy of a
certain weight, lift and place a large ladder, etc.). Somebody applying for
an office position in a fire department would not have those tasks as part
of their job description and not be required to be able to do those things.

If an archivist's job description includes moving archival containers of a
certain weight, then they could be required to be able to lift a certain
weight. Other job descriptions in the same library might not include that
task, and therefore not include that requirement. But the employer should be
extremely careful to match their employee requirements to the specifics in
their written job description.

But the dust requirement could be a problem. "Must breath dust" is not a
legal part of anybody's job description (hence, the requirement that you
must be able to breath dust), and face masks and filters are relatively
cheap protection that nearly anybody can wear. In that regard you might be
interested to know that fire-fighters are required to be able to wear such
protective gear, which means that some styles of beards would render an
applicant unfit to be a firefighter since that would compromise such face
masks.

Kevin
@
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----- Original Message -----
From: "S. COX" <scox75@VERIZON.NET>
To: <EXLIBRIS@MAIL.ECW.NAME>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 2:01 PM
Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS] Position Announcement - Cornell - 40 lbs of dust


> Is the lifting requirement for all professional librarians at Cornell, in
> this instance, or just for the Special Collections professionals?  And if
> so, why should some professionals have to be physically strong, while
their
> equals in other departments are not expected to lift anything?
>
>
>                                                     ----Shelley Cox
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kevin. Mac Donnell" <info@MACDONNELLRAREBOOKS.COM>
> To: <EXLIBRIS@MAIL.ECW.NAME>
> Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 1:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS] Position Announcement - Cornell - 40 lbs of dust
>
>
> > The lifting requirement is legitimate and common for many jobs, but that
> > "dust" requirement might possibly run afoul of ADA II, and OSHA
> > regulations,
> > things I deal with regularly in my other life as a fire commissioner.
> > Generally speaking an employer must provide a safe work environment or
> > else
> > provide protective measures and equipment when the work must take place
in
> > an unsafe environment. You might ask a lawyer to help reword that
> > requirement so it doesn't sound like a demand that employees be able to
> > work
> > in a dusty environment without safety precautions.
> >
> > Kevin
> > @
> > Mac Donnell Rare Books
> > 9307 Glenlake Drive
> > Austin TX 78730
> > 512-345-4139
> > info@macdonnellrarebooks.com
> > Member: ABAA, ILAB
> > **************************
> > You may browse our books at
> > www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Karen Morse" <kewalton@BUFFALO.EDU>
> > To: <EXLIBRIS@MAIL.ECW.NAME>
> > Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 11:31 AM
> > Subject: Re: [EXLIBRIS] Position Announcement - Cornell - 40 lbs of dust
> >
> >
> >> re. 40 lbs:
> >> This requirement is fairly standard for archival jobs because
archivists
> >> tend to spend a lot of time lugging around full record cartons.
> >> My guess is that the Assistant Curator will also be working with
> > manuscript
> >> material.
> >> Cheers,
> >> Karen
> >> __________________________________________________________
> >> Karen Walton Morse ~ Processing Archivist
> >> Special Collections ~ SUNY at Buffalo
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>