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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2003-01-01 • DISPOSITION DATE TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes 44) L' February 7, 2003 ,7f�,� ccp Public Works Facility Present: Tim Eighmey, Dave Boyes, Kristie Rice, Creig Hebdon,Judy Drake, and Fred Noteboom. The meeting started at 8:20 a.m. The December meeting minutes were approved. Highway Training Reviewed the training in December at the Highway Department. We will have the rest of the training after we move into the new building. We will review the Safety Policies and Procedures Manual with the employee then. We will have to make a new emergency evacuation plan for the new Public Works Facility. Manual Update The manual will be presented to the Town Hall employees when they do their March training. Judy Drake said that she would like to do the training herself instead of having Norm Wiley, PERMA,come down. The Personnel Manual and the Safety Policies and Procedures Manual have been approved and will be distributed after they are printed and the new drug and alcohol policy has been approved. The manual is 103 pages. Safety Evaluation from PERMA Again this year, the Town received the best rating for safety issues from PERMA. This helps reduce rates for the Town. In 31/2 years (with PERMA), the Town has had 18 cases. Most are not high incident claims. During that time, only two employees have lost of time due to injuries. Norm furnished Judy with a form that could be used for tracking personal protective equipment that is needed for each job. There is still work to be done on this, as we need to decide what jobs this form would be used for. There is always a problem with needing to use a hard hat in the mechanic's area—hard to use if under a vehicle, etc. Cell Phones / Radios Fred Noteboom addressed the Committee regarding the use of cell phones and radios. We have put a project before the Capital Projects Committee to upgrade the Town's radio system. They feel that we may want to start this project in 2003, instead of the 2004 projected date. The Committee agreed that even though we have cell phones, the radio system is needed. Cell phones can be unreliable or, if leaving a message, message may not get to person soon enough. Level of Service Fred said that the Town Board will be reviewing and approving the Town's level of services regarding snow removal on the roads, etc. We will be soliciting the residents for their input on the level of services they would like. If any Committee member has questions for the residents to consider, please let Fred (or Gail) know. Committee suggested describing what the current guidelines are so that residents had a basis to start with when making comments. Potential Safety Issue Fred said that another potential safety problem is snow plowing and several dangerous intersections they have to use. The Committee decided to ask the Snowplow drivers to write down the intersections they perceive as dangerous. We will then prioritize them, and send a list to Engineering Department. Creig Hebdon will then have the interns survey the intersections and design possible"fixes" to them. We would then be able to take them to the various Committees to help elevate the problems. We will start putting this on each Safety Committee meeting agenda to remind us to working on this. Up Coming Training Judy said there is a meeting on April 2, 2003 from 8 to 11 at the Ramada Inn in Ithaca to go over State weight limits, etc. Dave,Tim, and Fred should consider going to this meeting. We will be receiving more information on this in the near future and will then decide who is appropriate to attend. Judy let the committee know that there was an audio conference on safety issues that the Safety Committee might want to attend. The conference is a one-hour conference call session. The group could all go to the Tioga Room to meet for this conference. Fred will review this information and get back to Judy on it. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 a.m. ghk Qom" DISPOSITION DATE 1141* 4,A TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes March 6, 2003 Public Works Facility Present: Tim Eighmey, Dave Boyes, Kristie Rice, Creig Hebdon, and Judy Drake. The meeting started at 8:20 a.m. The February 7, 2003, meeting minutes were approved. Because an agenda was not done, the Committee members decided that we would discuss Fire Evacuation from Public Works Facility and Dangerous Intersections. The next agenda will include discussion on vehicles cutting through the Town Hall parking lot. (NOTE: Metal bollards with chain linked between them were put up at the Aurora Street entrance to Town Hall.) Dangerous Intersections Dave Boyes and Tim Eighmey have asked the snowplow drivers to identify intersections that the driver feels are dangerous—i.e.: having to pull out into an intersection to see before turning the corner. They have a list of them. The Committee decided the list should be prioritized/rated for both"Ease of Fixing" and "Severity of Danger". We will also put them in categories as follows: State Roads, County Roads, and Town Roads. The Highway Department will then put this information on a excel spreadsheet so the Engineering Department can work with it. Creig Hebdon asked if Dave and Tim could measure the trucks so when he has it put on the CAD system, the measurements would be more accurate. Some of the list was reviewed. The Committee found out that the Town trucks have to back up a lot while plowing roads. The Committee asked if the plow runs could be modified so that smaller trucks could do the work to minimize backing up. Tim and Dave explained that the routes have be reviewed and changed, although we had to put another run on using the larger trucks because the smaller (1-ton) trucks were getting to much wear and tear—we have had to replace the transmission in two 1-tons this year (both under warranty because trucks are not that old). This will be reviewed at the next meeting again. .ter i New Member Special Achievement Award Judy Drake informed the Committee that the Town has received an award from PERMA called New Member Special Achievement Award. This is due to the Towri s excellent mod. rate,etc. Fire Evacuation Plan for Public Works Facility The Committee discussed that the manual had been worded in a way that it included the new facility's evacuation procedures so that will not need to be changed. What needs to be done now is maps of evacuation routes need to be made and put up. The Committee walked around the building to discuss the places to put the maps. Kristie said that a fire extinguisher needs to be near all doors and the maps need to be placed on the wall in rooms that"people congregate". The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 a.m. ghk DISPOSITION DATE -A,Le i Meeting has been changed to April 10, 2003, at 12:30 p.m. Town of Ithaca Safety Committee 0 ® et Public Works Facility Conference Room April 4, 2003 ► ' 8:00 a.m. '� r 1. Approval of March 6, 2003, Meeting Minutes. 2. Discussion and Review of Dangerous Intersections. 3. Review Any Incident or Accident Reports. o � � Y Safety Net �' TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes April 10, 2003 Public Works Facility Present: Tim Eighmey,Dave Boyes,Fred Noteboom,Creig Hebdon, and Judy Drake. The meeting started at 12:35 p.m. The March 6,2003,meeting minutes were approved. Judy Drake informed the Committee that there were no incident or accident reports to review. Dangerous Intersections Most of the problem areas are not in the Town' right-of-way (ROW) and most can be dealt with by clearing/cutting back bushes and trees. The Committee discussed that if the Town has a deeded ROW,the Town forces can work to clear out the bushes and trees in the ROW. If the property is deeded by use,we can't do any work in back of the ditch line. Fred Noteboom said that the Highway Department would be willing to help landowners re-landscape the areas that bushes and trees would need to be removed. Steps now: 1. Find out what type of deed is on the property at the intersections in question. (Creig said maybe we could get an intern to do this work.) 2. Creig will map the intersections,which will include Town parcels. 3. Fred will review how much of the work the Town's forces can do. 4. The list of dangerous intersections will be presented to the Transportation Committee. After this discussion, the Committee members looked,first hand, at a few of the intersections in question by riding in the snowplow trucks. ghk DISPOSITION DATE A Ch'!VE COPIP:14/ TOWN OF ITHACA l Safety Committee May 2, 2003, 8:00 a.m. Public Works Facility 1. Approval of Minutes 2. Review Incident/Accident Report. 3. Review Worker's Comp. Billing(Exp. Mod. Rate. 4. Review PPE Evaluation Forms for Major Jobs. 5. Review Article on Requirements for First Aid Kits. 6. Material Data Safety Sheets. ghk 14, c2._ DISPOSITION DATE • ' ------ TOWN OF ITHACA9i Safety Committee Minutes May 2, 2003 Public Works Facility Present: Tim Eighmey, Dave Boyes,Creig Hebdon, Kristie Rice, and Judy Drake. The meeting started at 8:20 a.m. The April 10,2003,meeting minutes were approved. Creig Hebdon informed the Committee that the mapping for the dangerous intersections and easement identification is about 50 percent complete. Incident/Accident Reports There was one accident report to review. All the safety procedures were followed, although when working with chippers, accidents can happen due to wood kicking back out of the machine. This led to a discussion regarding the Town's brush pick up and the use of vests and flaggers on very busy roads. Most workers would rather use the florescent orange shirts because the vests "dangle" and can get pulled into the chipper. Worker's Compensation Judy Drake explained to the Committee how Worker's Compensation costs are calculated. PERMA (the Town's Worker's Compensation carrier) sets this rate using a formula from New York State and PERMA's discount (after reviewing the Town's safety records). The formula is based on the Town's accident rate (Experience Mod Rate) and the total wages. The Town's Worker's Compensation rate has increased about 65 percent,due to some accidents (that will be coming off the EMR) and the increase in wages. We did get a discount of 15.75 percent from PERMA though. First Aid Kits The Committee discussed which vehicles should have first aid kits in them. It was decided that all vehicles should have a small basic kit, and the Working Supervisor's vehicles should have a more complete (one including CPR material) one. It was also discussed that a list of what should be in the kit should be taped to the top of the box so employees will know what should be in each and replacements could be made. • Checking to see if there is a first aid kit (and fire extinguisher) are in each vehicle would become part of the Mechanic's checklist when a vehicle is serviced. Kristie will check the Town Hall vehicles to see if each car has a first aid kit,fire extinguisher, and the appropriate accident reporting forms in them. Personal Protective Equipment At a past meeting,the Committee discussed using a form to indicate what Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is needed for each job. This was discussed again, and it was decided that this form is not needed; the Work Order would include what PPE would be needed for the job. The Committee did decide that we should develop a list of PPE that is needed for specific jobs such as brush pickup, confined space, fall protection, etc. Material Safety Data Sheets How Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) will be filed was discussed. They should be filed alphabetically by the product name. The Committee felt that an index should be put in the beginning of the book. It was pointed out that keeping an updated index is time consuming and not necessarily needed if they are filed alphabetically by the product name. The Committee felt that during the annual refresher safety training,the whereabouts and how things are filed in our MSDS books should be noted. The next meeting will be June 6,2003, at 8:00 a.m., and we will be updated on the progress of maps for intersections and reports. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 a.m. ghk Final ARCHIVE COPY Final Town of Ithaca Safety Committee Minutes Friday, June 6, 2003 Present: Fred Noteboom, Dave Boyes, Tim Eighmey, Judy Drake, Kristie Rice, Creig Hebdon The meeting began at: 8:10 am Agenda Item #1: Review Minutes of May 2, 2003 meeting & others: Creig questioned the MSDS notes section. He thought it was going to be left up to each place how the books were put together. Kristie thought Dave & Tim were going to ask the highway staff what they thought. To update: Fred looked up on the Internet MSDS programs and found most were alphabetical by product. name. The group decided each building would organize their MSDS book the way they it would work best for that building. It was also stressed that training would need to include how to look up items in that building's MSDS book. Kristie wanted it corrected that she was concerned about why someone wasn't wearing a vest or orange shirt when doing flagging on a busy road. To update: Tim did speak with the guys after the May meeting. Most likely they had them on, but they got torn or cut up from the brush. This lead to a discussion regarding PPE and the question asked during a crew meeting about a "penalty" for not wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Fred responds was that it is up to the Working Supervisors to use their judgement and guide the crew. Ultimately, it will be their responsibility if the crews aren't wearing it and get hurt. There is the "penalty" of disciplinary action but Fred doesn't want to have to be the PPE police. There was also discussion regarding other articles of clothing like sweatshirts and coats. Some lime green may be transitioned it for clothing and signs. Signs are not required, but will probably use some. Will move toward getting stuff from RAK, which has a replacement program as things break. Agenda Item #2: Incidents: • Cut knuckles on file cabinet- no recommendation made except to be more careful and slow down. • Back injury— needed to use proper technique — employee realized this during follow-up paperwork. Lost time injury of 8 calendar days. Recommended continued work on reducing back injury training. • Fire Drill at Town Half — took longer then in the past — employee stopped to use the facilities. The front (lobby) entrance was blocked, so the employees that would normally exit that way had to decide on an alternative exit. Good lesson on finding alternative exits. 1 Final Final Agenda Item #3: Review Information Received on Purchasing First Aid Kits: Gail Kroll received quotes on different kits. 35 basic first aid and CPR kits for a cost of $591.16. Dan Walker asked to add flashlights to the list of items to • be kept in each Town vehicle. New vehicles are not getting the items they need. Items from old vehicles are not moved over, especially if we keep the old vehicle. Part of this is the driver's responsibility. Kristie has made a list of Town Hall vehicles and what they need. Mechanics while checking vehicles for NYS inspection and tune-ups could also have on the checklist to check on up-to-date first aid kits, fire extinguishers and flashlights. Tim and Dave will check all the Highway Facility vehicles, on a rainy day, to update first aid kits. They will also make sure all have a fire extinguisher and flashlight. All the items will have the Town's vehicle # on them . (See listing prepared by Gail). Kristie will be responsible to do the same with the Town Hall vehicles. Agenda#4: Review Dangerous Intersection Information: Creig is working on right-of-way and ownership. About half is on a large- scale map and should be done by the September meeting. Interns will be surveying and looking at intersections this summer. Others: *PEZ agenda to go to Fred (all department heads). Question asked: Status on cell phones for Working Supervisors and the Planning vehicle? Lisa Carrier-Titti is meeting with Verizon today. Will update on this topic as things occur over summer. Fred gave update on the repeater — looks like the Capital Project Committee is in favor of moving it forward. Fred will write a memo to the Capital Projects Committee, on behalf of the Safety Committee, in support of moving it forward. Questioned asked: Who is subject to drug & alcohol testing and when? Employees with a CDL are tested as required by law. Why don't we test everyone who drives a Town vehicle? CDL employees should not be isolated as they are not the only ones in vehicles or using Town equipment out in field. Testing should be broader. Judy questioned if non-CDL employees could be part of a consortium and cost associated. Judy will gather more information regarding the cost and details. This topic to be discussed further by committee. Tim will report to highway crew that we are looking into enhancing the Drug, and Alcohol policy by having all employees who operate Town equipment in a safety sensitive function on a random drug-testing basis. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 am to watch PERMA awards video. 2 Final ARCHIVE COPY Final Town of Ithaca Safety Committee Minutes, Friday, September 12, 2003 Present: Fred Noteboom, Dave Boyes, Tim Eighmey, Judy Drake, Kristie Rice, Creig Hebdon The meeting began at: 1 :30 pm 1. MINUTES: June 6, 2003 minutes approved. 2. REVIEW OF ACCIDENTS: The committee discussed the one claim that occurred over the summer. The claim did not result in any loss time. The case involved an employee getting dirt in the eye. It was discussed that "Eye Wash Procedures" will be addressed during the basic safety training this winter. 3. REVIEW PESH INSPECTION: See attached Notice of Violation and Order to Comply with remarks to how they were remedied or going to be. Fred went through each Citation to update the group on the status of the order to comply. Most of the citations were easily fixable or the item was replaced with a new one. As of yet we have not been re-inspected. 4. UPDATE ON INTERSECTIONS: Creig updated the group that he has not had the chance this summer to work on the project. Once the water project is in the swing and the mapping project is completed he and the interns will have more time to work on this project. Were it was left is that Creig with the help of the interns would survey the intersections and create a map that showed the ROW areas. 5. UPDATE ON STATUS OF INVENTORY OF FIRST AID KITS IN VEHICLES: Tim and Dave updated the group that they have been out in the field all summer and have not had the time to dedicate to this project. Work to be done on updating the material in the first aid kits will be done this fall. 6. UPDATE ON STATUS OF OTHER ITEMS: a. Radios: Creig asked for an update on the status of radios for the vehicles. Currently the Engineering Van does not have a mobile radio. Fred has gotten approval through the Capital Projects committee to update our receiver and locate it on one of the Town's water tanks versus renting space from another provider. This would also be to replace some of our current radios. Final Final b. Drug and alcohol testing for non-CDL drivers. Judy explained that we would be able to have employees go through the drug and alcohol testing the same as the CDL drivers with the contract with Gregory and Howe. They would not be included in the random call part of the program. There are different forms and the billing would be separated. The cost is currently $55 a test. The group discussed the fact that there would be around 20 employees that could be tested. The issue is that this on a random basis this would cause difficulties. By whom and when people would be chosen to be tested. Having such a small number they could be chosen more often than the CDL employees. The group's recommendation was to add a policy that would have all employees go through a pre-employment test and physical. Random testing would be done when there is a suspect of abuse, after any lost time accident or vehicle accident. Judy is to review other policies and review the CDL requirements. Judy will also check with the Court Clerks as to what if a CDL driver is pulled over on their own time and in their own car. c. Time-of meetings: The time of the meetings was discussed. It was suggested and approved to start the meetings at 7:30 am versus 8:00 am. Meeting adjourned at: 3:00 pm. (mac DISPOSITION DATE FINAL . TOWN OF ITHACA Safety Committee Minutes November 7, 2003 Public Works Facility Present: Tim Eighmey, Dave Boyes,Creig Hebdon, Fred Noteboom, and Judy Drake. The meeting started at 7:40 a.m. The October 6,2003, meeting minutes were approved. PESH Inspection Fred Noteboom informed the Committee that the PESH inspectors had been back to re- inspect the violations we had. We have abated all the original violations. The inspector was not really happy with the way we fixed the hoses to the welding area,but they were still passable. Fred said that we will be changing them,but the amount of time we had to fix before the re-inspection was not sufficient. We will be putting the storage tanks outside (under a canopy) and piping in to the building. We bought a new ladder and the storage tanks were moved. Incident/Accident Reports There was one accident to report this time. One of the temporary employees was hit with a branch on the underside of his chin. This required stitches. The worker had all the necessary safety helmet,etc. on. This is a reportable claim (to PERMA) although there was no loss of time. Dangerous Intersections There is very little to report on this topic, although Fred said that he would meet with the resident on the corner of Coy Glen Road and West Haven Road to see if we can come up with a solution (for the bushes in the way). He will invite Rich Schoch to attend this meeting. We will continue to work on these a few at a time. We still need to prioritize them. Creig Hebdon brought the Public Works Facility's evacuation plagues in for the Committee to see. We will have the Maintenance Worker put them up for us. Fred asked Creig to make a map that shows where the materials are stored for the Fire Department. First Aid Kits Tim Eighmey and Dave Boyes inventoried the vehicles to see if they had first aid kits and other safety equipment in them. Most of them either need a new one or do not have a kit in them. We will order new ones and take them from the Risk Management line item. (NOTE: First Aid Kits have been ordered and are in.) Dave and Tim will look for flashlights in the vehicles. Dave said that it would be nice to have larger flashlights in the bigger vehicles. We will continue to work on a checklist for when a vehicle is serviced. Each vehicle is serviced every 3,000 so the checklist would include making sure the vehicle has items like first aid kits and flashlight in them. Drug and Alcohol Test Policy Judy Drake had given all the members a copy of the current drug and alcohol policy for non-CDL drivers and a copy of a revised copy. The Committee reviewed this policy and made comments on it. Judy will make the changes and bring it back to this Committee for their review. This policy will also have to go to the Personnel Committee and Bolton Point before being presented to the Town Board for their approval. One of the discussion items is that post-accident needs to be defined more clearly. 2004 Meeting Dates We will keep the meeting dates and time the same for 2004. ghk UIJI'UJIIIUIV URIC —!mac c..c.•..^ .....� FINAL , . . _ _ _ . _ .. TOWN OF ITHACA SAFETY COMMITTEE = J /-&-d ?17-�� Friday, December 5, 2003, 8:00 a.m. Public Works Facility - a.." / rJ Maui This meeting has been cancelled. \/� A list of the meeting dates for 2004 will be sent soon. if/ •R� a ' il o , ili .. 11 / - 4, irilrin \ il \ ‘., 1 i . ,._ ) • 0 ot i ' \ elk YIP . :\ \ "- ' , , ,„ . I , .. / _.- . ,,,,,,„,4 ,,. e „ ,„ - ,i; -., _.,_... . .---..... .,....-- ./7.-- - ---toPi.-_, 4 \