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Minutes 09-12-05 MINUTES OF THE SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN THE FIRE/POLICE TRAINING ROOM, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 AT 10:00 A.M. Present: John Bebensee, Chair Kevin Nugent, Vice Chair Barbara Madden, Secretary Regenia Scott Chris Mitchell Franz LaFontant Rodney Vicki Glendon Morgan Cynthia Mann Barbara Scott Tim Calhoun Chuck Magazine Mark Bobich Recreation Fire/EMS City Clerk City Manager Development Engineering FinanceNVarehouse ITS Library Police/Code Compliance Public Works Risk Management Utilities Absent: Tom Balfe Brenda LeVant Eric F alstad Dorothy Mack Parks Communications Golf Course Human Resources I. Call to Order Chairman Bebensee called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. II. Roll Call The Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. III. Acceptance of Minutes of August 8, 2005 Regular Meeting Chairman Bebensee pointed out that Tom Mahady was present at the August meeting and he was incorrectly identified as Carl Mahady. Further, Chairman Bebensee pointed out that Mr. Mahady's title is Aquatic Supervisor. Motion Mr. Magazine moved to accept the minutes, as amended. Motion seconded by Vice Chair Nugent and unanimously carried. Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12,2005 IV. Safety Committee Education and Training Program Mr. Magazine reported that one of the City's insurance companies has a catalog of safety training videos available with a large range of topics covered. They will be providing the catalog in a digital format and he will be putting it on the Safety shared rive so anyone wanting to look at the available videos will be able to do so. Anyone requesting a video for viewing should contact Mr. Magazine. The video can be kept for 10 days. Mr. Bobich inquired when the list would be available for viewing. Mr. Magazine responded as soon as he received the disc, he would put it on the shared rive. If anyone would like a specific topic to be viewed by the entire Safety Committee, Mr. Magazine will order it for viewing. Some of videos are also available in Spanish. v. Unfinished Business A. Fire Drills Vice Chair Nugent distributed a form to be used during fire drills. He recommended that the Safety Coordinators conduct all fire drills since Fire Rescue does not have the personnel and time to do so. After the drill, the completed form should be turned in to Vice Chair Nugent, who will keep track of what departments have conducted drills. Before scheduling an unannounced fire drill, Dispatch must be notified well in advance, otherwise the Fire Department would respond thinking it was an actual call. When scheduling a fire drill, do not let your staff know that a fire drill would be taking place. Ms. Scott inquired how one department in City Hall could schedule a drill without involving all the departments in City Hall. Mr. Magazine reported that any fire drill in City Hall would be done for the entire building, and he would be in charge of this. Vice Chair Nugent noted any fire drill that would involve several departments would require coordination with all departments. Ms. Scott inquired how a drill would be handled under those circumstances. Vice Chair Nugent responded if several departments were involved in a drill, the person conducting the drill where the alarm would be set off would be the person in charge of the drill. That person should contact the other safety coordinators in their building to let them know that a drill would be taking place on a certain date and time. When a fire drill takes place, someone should be stationed at the exit areas to make certain that everyone has vacated the building and to record how much time it took. Mr. Magazine noted that an actual fire drill has never taken place in City Hall. When the alarm in City Hall goes off, it is usually activated by an event. When this happens, he usually goes through City Hall to make sure everyone is out of the building and then locate the source of the alarm. When a drill takes place in City Hall, he will utilize the Safety Coordinators in City Hall to assist and time the drill. Ms. Scott felt a procedure should be in place so everyone is aware of what their role would be during a fire drill. She thought that the drills should be coordinated and run by 2 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12, 2005 a team. Mr. Magazine will schedule a meeting with all the Safety Coordinators located in City Hall to review the process for fire drills. B. Proud to be a Safe Worker Awards None C. Departmental Inspections & Safety Meetings Mr. Magazine anticipated they would be available on the sharedrive when his new staff is onboard. D. Defensive Driver Course The course is still being offered. Mr. Magazine thanked Public Works for sending their employees to take the course. The Police Department still needs to be scheduled for the course. Mr. Magazine will discuss this with the Police Department training staff. Mr. Bobich inquired if Pam Webb was the contact in Risk Management to determine whether or not a person took the course. Mr. Magazine responded Ms. Webb is the contact person. E. Incident Review Board Referrals Mr. Magazine reported there were none. Ms. Scott asked Mr. Magazine to explain how this Incident Review Board (IRB) functions and what its purpose is. Mr. Magazine informed Ms. Scott the IRB is a subcommittee of the Safety Committee that is charged with reviewing all incidents that take place in the City involving City employees. If the IRB identifies a specific safety problem that is based on a system's problem, the IRB would then refer it to the Safety Committee for recommendations, etc. Members of the IRB are comprised of some members from the Safety Committee and other City employees. Mr. Bobich referred Ms. Scott to the APM that has the guidelines for the Safety Committee and the Incident Review Board. Ms. Scott inquired if all the incidents heard by the IRB were provided to the members of the Safety Committee. Mr. Magazine responded only the cases that must be addressed are heard by the Safety Committee. Safety Coordinators are informed of incidents within their department because they have to sign off on them. Ms. Scott felt that since the Safety Committee is charged with employee safety, it would be beneficial if they were informed of all incidents reviewed by the IRB. It was pointed out that many incidents are specific to a particular task or function within a specific department and required a certain expertise that the Safety Committee does not have. It is best if a particular incident related to a specific department is dealt with in that department. Vice Chair Nugent noted that the bay doors at Station #1 were consistently coming down on top of the engines and the vehicle operators were deemed culpable. However, 3 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12, 2005 the operators insisted the doors came down automatically. As a result, staff had the doors examined by an outside person who found that the Police Department radios would activate the bay doors as they drove by the station. The problem has since been corrected. This type of problem would not come to the Safety Committee since it was solved within the department. Mr. Magazine added that safety has been de-centralized to the department level where it is departmental specific. There have been several issues referred to this Board because they involved more than one department and the Safety Committee addressed them. Mr. Magazine pointed out that the IRS determines whether an issue should be referred to the Safety Committee. F. Lightning Protection Chairman Bebensee had nothing new to report. Mr. Bobich brought a "Strike Alert" that is a lightning detector that alerts people when there is lightning in the area from zero to 40 mile away. Chairman Bebensee reported the Strike Alert was not helpful at the Beach, but may help people out in the field. Mr. Bobich reported the instrument was effective for field crews. Mr. Magazine pointed out the radio tower at the Ocean Ridge municipal building, located across the street from the Beach, interferes with the signals rendering the Strike Alert ineffective. Also, City radios can interfere and render it ineffective. He reported they are continuing to try to locate vendors to come in and make presentations of products that detect lightning on a citywide basis. Ms. Scott recalled reading in the minutes that the golf course had a system in place. Vice Chair Nugent explained that it was High Ridge Country Club that was discussed in the minutes that had a lighting warning system. If lightning is detected at the golf course, alarms go off to alert the golfers to leave. Mr. Magazine felt the City could be at risk by not having a lightning detection system in place. The two main areas that need protection are the Beach and the golf course. Also, if events are taking place at any of the City park facilities, they need to be warned if there is lightning in the area. In this event, Mr. Magazine thought that Dispatch would have to be involved. Chairman Bebensee reported that the costs could be as low as $75 to $5,000 for a system at the Golf Course. Mr. Magazine said it was possible to put something on top of City Hall that could cover 50 miles in all directions. Mr. Calhoun inquired if something could be placed on top of one of the fire stations that could alert Dispatch. Dispatch in turn could notify the police and fire that could go out to the parks to notify people to leave. Chairman Bebensee did not think it would be possible for police and fire personnel to go to the City parks and notify people to leave because there is not enough staff to handle this. 4 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12, 2005 Mr. Magazine also thought they might be able to put something up on one of the new towers going up in the City, but the costs need to be considered. Ms. Scott inquired why the City could not be linked to the Weather Bureau's Doppler radar system. Mr. Magazine reported this would only be useful after lightning struck. They have looked at systems utilizing radar that would warn of lightning strikes, but it is very expensive. Vice Chair Nugent said if the City linked to one of these weather channels and the weather channel called the City to warn there was lightning in the area, at that point Dispatch would have to call out a police officer to clear the Beach. Ms. Scott inquired if there already was a procedure in place to clear the Beach. Chairman Bebensee stated there is a process in place to clear the Beach. Chairman Bebensee said they were looking for a system to alert the Beach that lightning would be coming before it actually occurred and the Doppler systems are after the fact. There are systems available that predict lightning at a given spot and at a given time. Chairman Bebensee reported that an audible warning system has proven to be the best, especially for golf courses. He will try to schedule another meeting with the vendors. G. Department Alternates Chairman Bebensee introduced Regenia Scott, the new alternate from the City Manager's Office. He announced the new alternate from Finance/Warehouse would be Hoyt Johnson. Ms. Cynthia Mann was present representing the Library and she stated that Craig Clark would be the Library alternate. Ms. Scott announced that Lt. Jeff Katz would be the alternate for the Police. Ms. Scott thought that she was the regular member, since Ms. LeJeune informed her that she would not be able to attend the meetings. Chairman Bebensee said he was told that Ms. Scott was an alternate. H. Holiday Parade Mr. Magazine announced that the parade would be held in the same location as last year. He has been attending the planning meetings to make sure the parade goes off as safely as possible. They are looking to use safety marshals to monitor the parade. The safety monitors would be assigned a certain segment of the parade to monitor and to make sure people are not acting up or crossing the street between the floats and parade units. Mr. Magazine sent E-mail to all members of the Safety Committee seeking volunteers, but has not heard back from anyone. If none of the Safety Committee members volunteer to be safety marshals, there will be none. Ms. Madden recommended asking the police officers assigned to the CRA area to help out. Mr. Magazine said this is not one of their duties. The CRA police officers would be monitoring the parade from a police and security standpoint. The safety marshals would have other duties. 5 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12, 2005 Mr. Bobich noted they had trouble with vendors in previous years. Mr. Magazine reported there would only be one vendor at the event. In previous years, there has been some gang activity at the parades and the police would be dealing with this. Chairman Bebensee noted the intent was to have one safety marshal with each unit and he anticipated 13 would be needed. If anyone would like to serve as a safety marshal, please contact Mr. Magazine. VI. New Business A. Departmental Safety Issues Vice Chair Nugent previously reported on the bay doors at Station #1 and has been rectified. B. Other Mr. Magazine reiterated that the information on the safety videos should be available this afternoon. Vice Chair Nugent inquired if a person would receive a certificate after viewing a video and Mr. Magazine said there would be none. The videos are being provided for viewing at safety meetings. If any department is having difficulty finding a specific video, please let Mr. Magazine know and he will try to locate it. Ms. Madden requested that the set up of the meeting room be addressed because the room was not prepared for today's meeting. When she tried to arrange the room for the meeting, one of the legs on a table broke. Fortunately, Mr. Magazine arrived to assist her. Vice Chair Nugent will look into this. He was not certain who was in charge of the room, but he will try to determine this. Vice Chair Nugent felt that a directive should be sent to departments utilizing the room that the room should be put back in its original configuration after it is used. Chairman Bebensee will add this as an agenda item for the next meeting. Mr. Magazine reported there has been a continuing problem with Fire Station #4 since it opened. Traffic control lights were supposed to be installed on Federal Highway that would stop traffic so the trucks could exit the station safely onto Federal Highway. There is now a problem with the County in getting the lights installed. The Fire Department has been working with the County for over a year, but it appears there has been little cooperation on the County's part. As a result, Mr. Magazine spoke with the Risk Manager for the County and informed her if any accident resulted because of the lack of the traffic lights, he would hold the County accountable. He requested she speak with the proper County departments to get the lights installed as soon as possible. However, the City recently received a letter from the County stating the lights would not be installed until one year from now. Mr. Magazine noted this is a hazardous situation for the trucks exiting the fire station because there is no traffic control light to stop traffic on the street. People traversing Federal Highway are not even aware that fire trucks are trying to get onto the highway. 6 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 12,2005 Vice Chair Nugent explained when DOT went out to install the light in the median, they discovered underground utilities that they were not aware of. As a result, they could not install the traffic control light at its original site. The DOT is trying to purchase a small piece of property to install a pole that would extend over onto the highway, but they are having difficulty purchasing land for this purpose. Mr. Calhoun questioned why they couldn't install flashing signal lights that warn people to be prepared to stop. Mr. LaFontant thought the delay was due to the hurricanes last year and this year when the City approached the County, they said they were busy installing lights for the School District, which is a priority. VII. Announcements Ms. Scott inquired if the Safety Manual has been updated. Vice Chair Nugent reported they had discussed this at a previous meeting. It was decided to separate the manual and have individuals from various departments review individual sections to see if changes are necessary. Mr. Magazine noted the last time the Safety Manual was updated was 2003, but there was a problem getting it printed. The current manual on the sharedrive is dated 2001. Vice Chair Nugent and Mr. Magazine will work on this. Mr. Bobich pointed out that some safety information is also available in the APM and he thought it should be taken out of that document and incorporated into the Safety Manual so that everything related to safety is in one document. Mr. Magazine agreed this needed to be looked at. Vice Chair Nugent recommended that the members look at the Safety Manual and select the sections they would like to update. Those sections not selected would be assigned. VIII. Next Meeting Date: Monday, October 10, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. IX. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 11 :00 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~ fh . ric(i~k Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (September 20, 2005) 7