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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2005-01-01 FINAL Town of Ithaca Safety Committee Notes January 7, 2005 8:15 am — 9:30 am Public Works Facility Attendees: Fred Noteboom, Judy Drake, Tim Eighmey, Dave Boyes, Creig Hebdon, and Kristie Rice Minutes were approved as written. Accidents/Incidents No new accidents to discuss. Committee was made aware that there was an incident on New Years Eve, which comprised of a brick being thrown through the front door at Town Hall. Inspection on Buildings Kristie is working on developing a check off listing to be used. Copy of Perma's Self Inspection Safety Checklists were distributed. This document was quite detailed but we may be able to use some of it. Kristie asked for clarification: How often it would be done? (Monthly is ideal) Who would be doing the inspections for each location? An assigned person would be ideal and make them accountable for doing them and documenting it. Dangerous Intersections Creig brought a map of the Coy Glen — Elm Street intersection. Creig will bring in profiles of intersection to next meeting. Others: Hard Hats: Revisited discussion regarding a set policy on Hard Hats. Employees aren't wearing them because not sure when they need to be worn. Committee not sure the best answer is to wear them all the time, although that would be easier than establishing certain jobs. Some concern expressed that the employees should be responsible to have them and wear them. However, the employees don't feel they are getting the example set by management staff. This policy seems to be more of do what I say versus what I do. What about the mechanics? Tim and Dave will work on a list of times when a hard hat should be worn, times when it isn't necessary and times that a gray. The committee will re-visit this topic in February. Committee's Purpose: In 1998 the committee revised the description of Safety Committee responsibilities. This document was handed out to the members and it was decided that it needs to be revised again. (see attached) FINAL Training: February 2nd from 12:30- 3:00 PWF Meth Lab Awareness Training will be held. February 18`h from 6:30am to 3:00 pm Safety Training Day at PWF Steve Williams will be doing a session on Backs and Judy will be doing a session on Generations at Work. Noise Meter: Kristie handed out information regarding the Town's Noise Meter. This will be discussed further at the February meeting. Next Meeting: Friday, February 4`h DISPOSITION DATE. `7.rte QMM TOWN OF ITHACA 114/ Safety Committee Minutes Public Works Facility, February 4,2005,8:00 a.m. Present: Judy Drake,Kristie Rice,Fred Noteboom,Tim Eighmey,Dave Boyes, and Creig Hebdon Meeting started at 8:10 a.m. The minutes were approved as written. Accidents/Incidents Since the Last Meeting There are no accidents or incidents to report since the last meeting. Judy Drake informed the Committee that the Town has not had a reportable accident since June 2004. This is good for the Town's credit rating. PERMA, the Town's Worker's Comp carrier,conducts the annual inspection of the Town's Public Works Facility and Town Hall. Norm Wiley said that things look good in the facilities. Our rating is the highest rate given-630. Purpose of the Committee The Committee reviewed the Committee's charter that was developed in 1998 when the Committee was formed. The document had many changes to it, so it will be retyped and reviewed again at the next meeting. Building Inspection List Kristie Rice has reviewed the building inspection checklist that we received from PERMA. Kristie says that this is a very comprehensive list and that she felt the Committee, as a whole,should go over each and every one of the items. The Committee will devote the next meeting entirely to going over this list. The Committee felt that maybe we should devise two lists—one for annual review and one for monthly review. It was also decided that there should be a monthly list for each facility: Public Works Facility and Town Hall. It was discussed that the Engineering Techs could do the monthly inspection at the Public Works Facility and the Building and Zoning staff could do the monthly inspection at Town Hall. Whoever does the inspections will have to be trained on what to look for. The Committee discussed that during the winter months, the Public Works Facility could be inspected by the night person. The night person works from November to April. This year we have two people on nights. From a safety standpoint, this is a better arrangement then only having one person work at night alone. Dangerous Intersections Crieg Hebdon said that it would be easier to evaluate the site distances of the intersections if the staff could use a piece of plywood that is painted bright orange. The Highway Department will make something with a handle on the back of it for this purpose. The dimensions of the board needs to be IA"by 2'wide by 4'3" tall. Noise Meter Kristie was going to bring the Town's new noise meter to the meeting,but will bring it to the April meeting. The Committee would like to learn to use the noise meter,so we will test it out on some of our trucks. This meter was purchase to keep track of noise levels at parties and or pump stations, etc. Hard Hat Policy It will be required that work assessment forms be used and that will inform employees which jobs they need to wear a hard hat; although they should have their hard hat with them at all times when at work. The Committee reviewed the safety training that is scheduled for February 18, 2005. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 a.m. ghk DISPOSITION DATE —(c&0.."-, c3.41,",--0,..—.-J, F14/4 1 Safety Committee Meeting C „,..,,,,,„ , March 4, 2005 Public Works Facility 8:00 a.m. 1(141 II I f 1 itThis meeting Al will be devoted Al% to Building Inspection Check List. DISPOSITION DAI FINIV Safety Committee Meeting April 1, 2005 Public Works Facility 8:00 a.m. 141(7 This meeting will be devoted to Building Inspection I ii411% Check List. Wear your 1111 sneakers— walk around inspection. DISPOSITION DATE 4/4/ TOWNOF O ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes Public Works Facility, May 6,2005,8:00 a.m. Present: Judy Drake, Kristie Rice,Fred Noteboom, and Creig Hebdon There are no minutes from the April or March meetings to approve—working sessions. Accidents/Incidents Since the Last Meeting Discussed one accident that occurred at Bolton Point-First aid administered only. Judy updated committee on 2005-2006 PERMA Workers' Compensation billing. Overall decrease over previous year of$6,000. This was caused by a decrease in the experience modifier from .91 to .87 and an increase in the PERMA discount from 12.2 percent to 19.2 percent. These cost reducers were offset by an increase in salaries and an increase in NYS assessment from 14.3 percent to 15.1 percent. Building Inspection List The committee has gone through the list from PERMA in entirety. Fred,Gail, and Judy will work on developing the list for the Public Works Facility. Creig and Kristie will work on the one for Town Hall. It was decided the checklist should be completed quarterly as a walk through. There should be a separate "did you do?" checklist for annual stuff. The lists should be as concise as possible and specific to the area at the Public Works Facility or a building. Dangerous Intersections Creig said this is on the work plan for the summer interns. This should be added to the September agenda. Others Fire drill for Town Hall will be scheduled for spring. Judy will schedule safety training for Town Hall one in July and one in August to be held at the Public Works Facility. Fire extinguisher training needs to be included. Kristie and Judy will attend the PERMA conference May 19-20, 2005, for the Town. DISPOSITION DATE *47/ TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Agenda Public Works Facility, June 3 2005, 8:00 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes a. May 6, 2005 2. Review Incident/Accident Reports 3. Review Check List for Inspections of Buildings 4. Review of PERMA Conference 5. Town Hall Safety Training a. Dates for Training b. Fire Safety Inspection c. Fire Drill *** ***7 ** *** ******* DISPOSITION DATE C/4/ TOWN OF ITHACA I Safety Committee Minutes Public Works Facility, June 3,2005,8:00 a.m. Present: Judy Drake,Fred Noteboom,Dave Boyes,Tim Eighmey, and Creig Hebdon Minutes from the May meeting were approved. Accidents/Incidents Since the Last Meeting There was one incident this month to report, in which someone twisted their back. The Committee reviewed the problems at the Post Office, in which people trip getting up to the doors there. Creig Hebdon will draw up a design and get an estimate to fix this problem. The Committee discussed where the money would come from to fix the problem—Risk Retention or Town Hall Building Maintenance. PERMA Conference Judy Drake said that the attendance at this conference seemed lower this year,but the classes were good. Kristie Rice went to the Investigating Accidents and OSHA Basics. Judy went to Worker's Comp 101 and Experience Modifications. PERMA's theme for this year is putting wellness and safety together. Judy talked to Norm Wiley and he told her that to be eligible for PERMA training grant, we would have to have someone attend the conference each year. We will put money in conference and mileage to continue to go. One session at the conference talked about incentives for good safety habits—it emphasized praise for good safety habits,not pointing out bad ones. Judy would like to work on incentives for good safety habits. Town Hall Training No training dates have been set yet. The fire inspections were done—Kristie and Joe Hulbert conducted them. Update on Inspection Checklists Fred Noteboom,Gail Kroll,and Judy Drake started the checklist for the Public Works Facility, and typed up a draft of what we have done so far. Creig and Kristie will work on one for Town Hall. Miscellaneous The Committee discussed Judy's idea for incentive for safety. There needs to be guidelines set for this. We need to reinforce that the Deputy Highway Superintendent, Parks Maintenance Manager,and Water and Sewer Maintenance Supervisor,along with the Working Supervisors need to be more aggressive in getting workers to have and wear their PPE. The meeting was adjourned at 9:35. Next meeting: September 2, 2005. DISPOSITION DATE c //kip TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Agenda Public Works Facility, September 30, 2005, 8:00 p.m. 1. Approval of Minutes a. May 6, 2005 2. Review Incident/Accident Reports 3. Update on Dangerous Intersections 4. Start Check List for Inspections of Buildings 5. PERMA Meeting 6. Review Safety Training a= DISPOSITION DATE TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes Public Works Facility, September 30, 2005, 8:00 a.m. Present: Judy Drake, Fred Noteboom,Kristie Rice,Tim Eighmey, and Creig Hebdon Minutes from the June 3,2005,meeting were approved. Accidents/Incidents Since the Last Meeting Three different summer workers injured (cut) their thigh using hedge trimmers. Tim Eighmey offered that the Town uses double-sided trimmers and this may be the reason. Judy Drake said she observed an employee using hedge trimmers at Town Hall and it was an unsafe place to be working—although there is no other way to trim there. It was decided that we should provide some training on tree/brush cutting operations for temporary workers and their immediate supervisors. We do have chain saw chaps. It was noted that, overall, there were very few (just the three) incidents/accidents for as many people we had working here this summer (For a while this summer the Public Works Department had 41 people working out of this facility). Update on Dangerous Intersections Creig Hebdon has put together a map with all the intersections and their site distances. Out of the 85 there are 58 that do not meet AASHTO site distance standards. Next,Creig is going to have the interns take pictures at the intersections and put them on the map. Tim asked if there is anything the Town could do in the County's and State's rights-of- way. We will identify the problem areas and write letters to the County and State asking them to fix the site distance problems. We may want to share this data with the Transportation Committee soon. Update Inspections of Buildings Checklist Kristie Rice said that Creig and she worked on an outline of what should be on the checklist. They questioned if Town Hall should have a lock out/tag out system. Currently there is none. We will have to look into this more. Seems like there might need to be one. Kristie said she inspected the first aid kit at Town Hall. The Public Works Facility checklist is being worked on but is not ready for review. PERMA Conference PERMA will be holding a regional meeting on November 15,2005, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The topic of discussion will be "How to Avoid the Top Ten PESH/OSHA Citation". The meeting is here in Ithaca. We would like to send some people,especially Safety Committee members,to this. Please see Gail if you are interested in going. Creig said that he would go. Safety Training Town Hall has conducted its annual safety training. This included fire extinguisher training. Miscellaneous Judy said that she received new laws for CDL drivers. She will fax a copy to Public Works, and Gail will distribute. Kristie received information regarding safety bulletins. The Committee would like to try the free trial to see if it were something the Town would use. Judy said that they have ordered the safety calendars and they will go out with the open enrollment forms. The open enrollment forms will be sent directly to employee's homes. Kristie reminded the Committee that Fire Prevention week is coming up. The Committee talked about hunting season coming up and that hunters who bring their guns with them to work,must let administration know. We will schedule another meth lab training. The next meeting will be November 4, 2005,at 8:00 a.m. Topics for discussion: Lock out Tag out at Town Hall, and Building Inspection Checklists. ghk DISPOSITION DATE4/4/ TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes Public Works Facility, December 2,2005,8:00 a.m. Present: Judy Drake,Fred Noteboom, Kristie Rice,Dave Boyes, and Creig Hebdon Minutes from the November 4, 2005,meeting were approved. The meeting began at 8:05 a.m. The Committee decided that we should ask all employees if they would like to be on the Committee (as the current employees have been on the Committee for quite a while now). If no one was interested,the current member said they would stay on. The Committee decided to meet every other month starting in February, and continuing on the first Friday of the month at 8:00 a.m. Meeting dates to follow. On the off months,we will conduct building inspections,noise level monitoring,etc. The goals the Committee hope to accomplish during 2006 are: Finish the Building Inspection Check List, research new and innovative safety training sessions including ones for temporary employees, and update the safety manual. The Committee decided that the minutes should be included in the Town Board members' monthly Board packet. Items for the February meeting agenda: PERMA conference and training for temporary employees. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 a.m. ghk