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Minutes 10-14-05MINUTES OF THE SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN THE FIRE/POLICE TRAINING ROOM, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005 AT 10:00 A.M. Present: Kevin Nugent, Vice Chair Fire/EMS Barbara Madden, Secretary City Clerk Chris Mitchell Development Franz LaFontant Engineering Dorothy Mack Human Resources Cynthia Mann Library Barbara Scott Police/Code Compliance Glenda Hall Public Works Chuck Magazine Risk Management Mark Bobich Utilities Absent: John Bebensee, Chair Recreation Carisse LeJeune City Manager Rodney Vicki Finance/Warehouse Glendon Morgan ITS Tom Balfe Parks Brenda LeVant Communications Eric Falstad Golf Course I. Call to Order In the absence of the Chairman, Vice Chair Nugent presided and called the meeting to order at 10:15 p.m. II. Roll Call The Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. III. Acceptance of Minutes of September 12, 2005 Regular Meeting Motion Mr. Magazine moved to accept the minutes as written. Motion seconded by Ms. Hall and unanimously carried. IV. Safety Committee Education and Training Program Mr. Magazine reported the list of safety videos available through Preferred Governmental Insurance Trust (PGIT) is now on the sharedrive. Anyone wanting to view any of the videos should contact Mr. Magazine. The videos can be kept for two weeks for viewing. If a topic cannot be located, please advise Mr. Magazine. Risk Management and Utilities also maintain a great deal of videos. V. Unfinished Business A. Fire Drills Vice Chair Nugent recalled at the last meeting there was a lengthy discussion regarding fire drills. Since that meeting, he did further research to determine if there was a policy or procedure in place for evacuation of buildings. Vice Chair Nugent presented a copy of City Policy No. 12.01.14 that contained the City’s Emergency Evacuation Plan. He also met with Fire and Life/Safety. As a result of that meeting, they drafted a plan. The draft plan needs further review before it is submitted to the City for consideration to replace the current Emergency Evacuation Plan. As an alternative, it could be attached as an addendum to the current plan. A copy of the draft plan was presented to the Secretary and was filed with the records of the meeting. B. Proud to be a Safe Worker Awards None C. Departmental Inspections & Safety Meetings Mr. Magazine reported he has a new assistant who will be entering the reports on the sharedrive. Now that Risk Management is fully staffed, he anticipated having more time to go out into the field to attend safety meetings and assist departments with safety meetings. Mr. Magazine requested that the committee members inform him of their departmental inspection dates so he could be available to assist with the inspections. D. Defensive Driver Course Mr. Magazine announced that over 450 people have taken the course. He still needs to make arrangements for police personnel to take the course. He anticipated that the classes would be cut back because most employees that had to take the course have done so. The course will be given to new employees as necessary. Anyone that took the course and scored 100 on both courses received a key chain. Mr. Bobich said one of his employees that took the course noticed a sticker on the dashboard and windows of the vehicles in the video and inquired if they were available. Mr. Magazine stated he purchased the stickers and provided them to Fleet so they could be placed on the dashboards. He recommended Mr. Bobich contact Tim Calhoun about the stickers. Vice Chair Nugent noted that one employee in the Fire Department received a discount from their auto insurer for taking the class. Ms. Hall reported that her auto insurer would not accept the course. Ms. Madden pointed out that the certificates provided do not state the agency that sanctioned the course so it could be submitted to the insurance companies. Mr. Magazine will prepare an appropriate letter that could be attached to the certificate and will provide it to anyone requesting one. E. Incident Review Board Referrals None F. Lightning Protection Mr. Magazine noted that Chairman Bebensee was supposed to arrange a meeting with one of the vendors, but he has not heard anything further. He recommended the item be carried over to the agenda for November. Vice Chair Nugent reported on an incident in Pompano Beach involving a football player who was killed by lightning. Because of an approaching storm, the game was called off. As the players were exiting the field, one of the players was struck by lightning in the chest that traveled through him and then hit a cheerleader and another man, that were originally in critical condition, but have been upgraded. Vice Chair Nugent pointed out that the storm was several miles away when they were walking off the field, and yet a player was still struck and killed. Because of this incident, there has been a lot of publicity in the papers about having proper warning systems in place so that people could be evacuated from areas that are vulnerable to lightning strikes. The school board in Broward County said that they could not afford to install a warning system because it was too expensive and there was no proof that the system would be effective. Mr. Magazine responded this was an isolated incident and the people were leaving the field because of the approaching storm when the bolt came out of the blue and struck the student. Mr. Magazine thought even if there had been a warning system, it might not have prevented the football player from being struck by lightning. Vice Chair Nugent said there is documentation that when people are struck by lightning, the bolts are usually 10 to 12 miles from the center of the storm. This is why it is very important that any equipment purchased should be able to detect lightning far enough way so people could be evacuated from vulnerable areas in a sufficient amount of time. Mr. Magazine noted they looked at a system that would identify a storm as far as 50 miles away. At that point, the storm would be tracked to determine the direction it was going in. If it was determined the storm was heading towards a vulnerable area, it could be cleared when the storm approached a certain distance. When looking at a system, the Beach and Golf Course would be the prime areas for consideration. The only system that could be effective would be a system that could be tracked, which would be a radar-based system. Mr. Magazine pointed out that these systems are expensive and are not 100% effective. If and when a system is selected, it would be brought to the City Manager and then to the City Commission for their consideration. Vice Chair Nugent will talk to Chairman Bebensee to make arrangements to speak with the vendors. He will also contact the people at High Ridge Country Club to determine where they purchased their system. G. Holiday Parade Mr. Magazine requested that this be deleted from the agenda. VI. New Business A. Departmental Safety Issues Mr. Bobich reported that on Sunday, October 2, 2005, a wastewater spill took place into the L-24 Canal along West Boynton Beach Boulevard, just west of Congress Avenue (near Burger King) at lift station #317, which is considered a master station. A copy of the report sent to the Florida Department of Health was provided to the Secretary to be included with the record of the meeting. Lift station #317 was being bypassed for cleaning and there were two 12” pumps on site. The primary was electric and the backup was diesel. Because the primary pump seals leaked, it lost its prime, but the back up diesel pump should have taken over. However, the diesel pump starter also failed, resulting in sewage overflowing into the drainage system leading into the L-24 Canal. An alarm sounded and crews responded to the spill. By the time everything was under control, sewage was coming out of the manhole into the storm drain that runs into the L-24 Canal. The contractor working on the station also responded to repair his equipment. The electric pump was replaced with another diesel pump and the diesel pump was repaired. Two standby pumps were brought to the site in the event they were needed. In addition, the contractor installed an air bag at the east end of the Canal, which was actually in a culvert pipe, and the canal water and sewage was pumped out of the culvert into the station and then onto the regional plant. Bacteria testing took place for about one week after the spill to make certain the levels of bacteria were not dangerous. Mr. Bobich pointed out the spill was more of an environmental issue than a safety one. Mr. Magazine felt it was also a safety issue and should be reviewed by someone in the City outside of the Utilities Department. He has always maintained when there are spills of this nature, it should be documented with the Safety Committee and reviewed to determine if any further action needed to be taken or recommendations made on a citywide basis. Ms. Hall requested that whenever there is any kind of spill into the canals, she would like to be notified. She felt that they could assist when a spill takes place because they would know what to do in regard to clean ups. Mr. Bobich noted that a report is e-mailed to the Health Department and asked Ms. Hall who should receive a copy of the report. Ms. Hall requested she be provided a copy because she is in charge of canal maintenance. Mr. Magazine inquired if the failure of the pumps caused the spill and Mr. Bobich responded it was due to multiple pump failure. Mr. Magazine inquired how often the diesel pump is checked and tested. Mr. Bobich reported that the contractor has been at the lift station every day before the spill and checked everything daily. Mr. Bobich pointed out that the pumps belonged to the contractor who rented them from another source. After the spill, a diesel pump owned by the City was brought in as a second backup. Also, there are two additional standby pumps at the station. Mr. Magazine inquired if the contractor has been informed of the costs incurred by the City. Mr. Bobich said this has not been done yet because staff is still waiting to hear from EPS. Mr. Magazine requested that he be updated on this so he could file a claim with the contractor’s insurance carrier for any costs incurred by the City because the spill resulted from the failure of the contractor’s pumps. If the pumps were rented, the rental company may also be responsible. Vice Chair Nugent inquired if it was common to use an outside contractor for this type of maintenance and Mr. Bobich stated it was. He noted the work was hazardous and it was feasible to have an outside party perform this type of work. B. Other Vice Chair Nugent noted when the Board recently viewed a video on rip currents, he obtained a copy of the video from Chairman Bebensee. The Fire Department has a fire truck that was recently remodeled by the students at South Technical that is equipped with a large screen digital screen television on the side of the truck. His intent is to bring the truck to the beach and run the video all day to inform the public about the risks of going into the water when rip tides are present. With all the storms occurring, the incidence of rip tides has escalated. It is anticipated that the video will assist the lifeguards performing their work. Ms. Hall recommended also showing the video at City Hall in the Mall. Vice Chair Nugent thought this would be a good idea as well. Vice Chair Nugent noted because of the construction going on at the Mall, their annual expo will be held at Wal-Mart on Saturday, October 16th beginning at 11:00 a.m. The fire truck will also be at the expo and the video will be shown. Other events at the expo will be a demonstration of how to install children’s safety seats, and various skits will be put on, including a car burning. The expo will take place on the northwest corner of the parking lot. Everyone was welcomed to come out to the expo. Vice Chair Nugent also reported that October is Fire Prevention Month and all their efforts this month are geared towards fire safety and training. Vice Chair Nugent announced the Fire Department holds a pancake breakfast three times each year to raise money. One was held this past Sunday at Fire Station #3 and was very successful. Mr. Magazine added that Vice Chair Nugent was one of the cooks. Vice Chair Nugent reported this breakfast was the most profitable one to date. Two more are scheduled and consideration is being given to holding one at the new Station #4. Mr. Bobich asked if revision of the Safety Manual was going to be addressed. Vice Chair Nugent reported he would be meeting with Mr. Magazine to discuss how they want to approach revising the manual. In the past, committee members volunteered to redo sections. Sections not selected were assigned. Mr. Magazine requested that members look through the Safety Manual to determine if there is a section they would like to revise. Vice Chair Nugent noted that all sections might not have to be revised. VII. Announcements Mr. Magazine reported that the Interlocal Agreement between the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and the City was signed and the CRA will be taking over the Old High School. He noted that a schedule must be adhered to by the CRA, and if the schedule was not met, the building would revert back to the City. VIII. Next Meeting Date: Monday, November 14, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. IX. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 10:50 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden ________________________________ Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (October 17, 2005)