HomeMy WebLinkAbout16 - Human Resources - Request for Contractual Services.pdfCITY OF ITHACA
108 East. Green Street Ithacay New York 14850 -5690
OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES / CIVIL SERVICE
Telephone: 607/274 -6539 Fax: 607/274 -6574
To: Common Council
From: Schelley Michell-Nunn, Director of Human Resources
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Date: October 27, 2014
Re: Request for Funds to Contract for Certain Safety Duties
As per your request, I am providing additional information related to my request for funds to obtain
contractual services for the more technical duties performed by the Employee Health and Safety
Coordinator.
The proposed budget eliminates the part-time Employee Health and Safety Coordinator position
which was reduced from full time two years ago. The work is semi - specialized and requires some
level of expertise. There are several tasks that will need to be picked up by other staff, i.e.
coordination of mandatory training, new employee training, facilitation of city -wide safety
committee and workers' comp coordination. Certain other tasks will need to be shifted to some of
the departments, i.e. CDL drug testing administration and occupational hearing testing. Other areas
require more expertise than what will reside in Hum-
uman Resources, i.e. responding to PESH
inspections, records maintenance for PESH and the Feds (OSHA 900 and 900.1), specialized
training, updating of policies as mandates increase, and risk management (quarterly
accident /incident analysis, accident reviews, reviewing data and providing strategies for
improvements). For this reason, I believe it is essential to contract out for the more technical needs.
The contract would be established on an as needed basis. Research into the cost of this type of
service indicates a $30 - $50 an hour rate. My best guess on the amount of time for the year is 200 to
300 hours of contractual services. Therefore, I am requesting $10,000. Although safety is everyone's
responsibility, it is an industry standard best practice to have workplace safety oversight specifically
assigned to one person. While I had anticipated the retirement as an opportunity to reposition the
work to impact more cost savings, with the loss of this key position, we will make every effort to
operate effectively.
CC: Svante Myrick, Mayor
`An Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to workforce diversification." ca