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Minutes 10-11-99 MINUTES OF THE SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN FIRE/POLICE TRAINING ROOM, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1999 AT 10:00 A.M. PRESENT Wally Majors, Chairman Recreation Mark Bobich Utilities Administration & EWTP Bob Borden Fire Rescue Wendy Danysh Police Department Dorothy Mack Human Resources Barbara Madden City Clerk’s Office Chuck Magazine, Vice Chair Risk Management George Mantel Public Works Dawn McCrery Library Kathy McDeavitt ITS Eugene Ruffolo Utilities WWTP Norman Turner Parks ABSENT Eric Falstad Golf Course Tony Frazier Finance/Warehouse Hugh McCaffrey Communications Mike Rumpf Planning & Development I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Majors called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. II.ROLL CALL The Recording Secretary called the roll. A quorum was declared present. III. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 9, 1999 REGULAR MEETING (Note: September 13, 1999 Meeting cancelled due to Hurricane Alert) There were no changes or additions to the minutes. Motion Vice Chair Magazine moved to accept the minutes of the August 9, 1999 meeting. Motion seconded by Mr. Bobich. Motion unanimously carried. MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 IV. ELECTION A. Nominating Committee Report – Vice Chairperson Vice Chair Magazine explained that the Chairman and Vice Chairman each serve a one-year term in office and after the first year, the Vice Chairperson moves up to Chairman. Therefore, it would be in order for this Committee to elect a Vice Chairperson. The election should have taken place in September but was cancelled, The Nominating Committee (Hugh McCaffrey, Chairman Majors and Vice Chair Magazine) is nominating A. D. Henehan to serve as Vice Chairman. Mr. Henehan has accepted the nomination. Vice Chair Magazine asked if there were any other nominations. There were none and he called for a motion to close the nominations. Motion Mr. Bobich moved to close the nominations. Motion seconded by Assistant Fire Marshal Borden, which carried unanimously. B. Election – Vice Chairperson A. D. Henehan was declared the Vice Chairman of the Safety Committee. Chairman Majors announced that current Vice Chair Magazine would assume the Chairmanship next month. V. Safety Committee Education and Training Program: “MSDS Internet Access” by Mark Bobich Mr. Bobich distributed a handout, which showed how to access the MSDS sheets from the Internet. This will now eliminate the need to keep hundreds of copies of MSDS sheets. Mr. Bobich said that the software that was originally intended to be loaded onto the City share drive that contained MSDS sheets was not compatible and was an old program. The MSDS sheets on the Internet are from a program maintained by Cornell University Environmental Health and Safety and are available to anyone who has Internet access. Mr. Bobich gave a hands-on presentation on how to access this information from the Internet. 2 MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 VI. OLD BUSINESS A. Fire Drills Assistant Fire Marshal Borden reported that there have been no fire drills. Assistant Fire Marshal Borden reported that the fire alarm system has been installed at the new Senior Center and is operational. However, it is not monitored. When the phone lines are completed, the system will then be monitored. It is anticipated that the phone lines will be installed this Wednesday. B. Safety Newsletter Vice Chair Magazine reported that the safety newsletter continues to be prepared and distributed. Boynton Beach is the leading edge in its safety newsletter and many municipalities, the latest of which is Palm Beach Gardens, are copying the City’s format. Vice Chair Magazine stated he continually looks for articles and Sgt. Danysh is the latest contributing columnist. C. “Proud to be a Safe Worker” Awards Vice Chair Magazine announced that there are three awards, all from the Utilities Department. Mr. Bobich reported that Lawrence Goins and Clifford Rockey in July assisted an elderly woman who had fallen on the sidewalk across the street from the East Water Treatment Plant. The third award was presented to Louis Le Venton, an employee at the East Water Treatment Plant who discovered that employees of an outside contractor were smoking while working near the vacuum filter building. Although City employees are aware that there is no smoking, a “no smoking sign” has now been hung at the site. There is a great deal of flammable chemicals kept on the premises and smoking is strictly prohibited. D. Departmental Inspections & Safety Meetings Vice Chair Magazine distributed updated Safety Inspections and Meeting charts. He reported that the Utilities Department is making a major effort to improve the documentation of their Safety Inspections and Meetings and Mr. John Guidry sent out a memo, part of which Vice Chair Magazine read to the members. In effect the memo stated that routine safety meetings will be held at least monthly. “Any supervisor not performing this required training should be prepared to sit in front of my desk and 3 MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 explain to me why they continue to choose to not perform this required training. Training is required under federal and state law and is also City and department policy. Under OSHA and EPA rules, supervisors are considered personally responsible and can be held civilly and criminally liable for failing to perform this required training.” Vice Chair Magazine said there are many departments that need to improve their safety inspections and meetings. Ms. McDeavitt inquired why the chart indicated that ITS had no safety meetings. Ms. McDeavitt said ITS has been having safety meetings every month. Vice Chair Magazine said that documentation of each meeting must be sent to him in order to get credit for the meeting. E. Defensive Driver Course Classes continue to be held every other month and any new employees that need to take the course should call Risk Management to schedule the training. Vice Chair Magazine reported that close to 400 employees have taken the course and the training is good for three years. The defensive driver course is mandatory for any employee operating a City vehicle or driving a personal vehicle for City business. F. Hazardous Communication Project Team This item will be removed from the agenda. G. Safety Belt Use Project Team Vice Chair Magazine distributed a memo dated September 13, 1999, which in effect states that the goal of 80% seatbelt use was not met. Two different surveys were taken; a stationary survey and a mobile survey. The stationary survey was taken at one of the water treatment plants where cars were checked entering and exiting. A mobile survey was taken by driving around the City to observe employees driving City vehicles. Neither survey was very good. Vice Chair Magazine said that he has yet to see a police officer driving a police vehicle without a seatbelt on. The project team will be meeting this afternoon to look at other options. There is a City policy in effect as follows and disciplining employees will start taking place shortly: First offense - Written reprimand Second offense - Suspension Third offense - Termination 4 MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 H. Incident Review Board Referral 1. Oceanfront Park Boardwalk Slip and Fall Risks Chairman Majors said he was not successful in contacting Mr. George Evans. Chairman Majors reported that the paint that was placed on the boardwalk to address this problem did not work. Mr. Mantel reported that equipment has been ordered to cut grooves in the planks that would create some type of texture that should eliminate slips and falls. Mr. Mantel said that the equipment could also be used to take stripes off the road, as well as other uses. The equipment is expected within a few weeks. Assistant Fire Marshal Borden inquired if the texture of the boardwalk would be rough to the bare foot? Vice Chair Magazine said it will be a wait and try scene to determine this. I. Roof Leaks 1. Police Pistol Range : The contract for repair will be brought before the City Commission next week for approval. 2. Fire Station #1 : Repairs were completed last week. 3. Hester Center Roof : Vice Chair Magazine reported that the leak was caused by an air conditioning unit and that has been repaired. There are blisters on the roof and the warranty company is supposed to come out to the Center to fix the problem. Chairman Majors did not think it was just the air conditioning unit that was causing the problem. J. Report from Palm Beach County Environmental Research Management Vice Chair Magazine said he received a letter from the County closing out the matter of the spill that occurred on S. Seacrest Boulevard in August, a copy of which is included with the minutes of this meeting. VII. NEW BUSINESS A. Safety Manual Review 5 MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 Copies of the City’s Safety Manual were distributed to members. Vice Chair Magazine said that the manual needs to be updated. He asked if members would prefer to have a particular section assigned to each member to review (as was done last time) or would members prefer to review the entire manual. After discussion, it was determined that all the members would review the entire manual over the next two months. At the next meeting the first two sections will be reviewed. B. Other The recording secretary reported that during a fire extinguisher training with Assistant Fire Marshal Borden, it was determined that the fire extinguisher in the City Clerk’s Office is not in a proper location. He stated that fire extinguishers need to be located near an exit. Also, the staff of the Clerk’s Office felt the extinguisher was too heavy and Assistant Fire Marshal Borden said that the current size of the extinguisher was not necessary and was too large. The recording secretary questioned if this situation may exist in other departments throughout the City. Assistant Fire Marshal Borden said that he reported the situation to Mr. DeBeck immediately after the training. Nothing has been done yet to correct the situation. Assistant Fire Marshal Borden announced that the week of October 3 through 9 was Fire Prevention Week. The City is designating the entire month of October as Fire Prevention Month and noted fire information was printed in the safety newsletter. Every school in the City will participate in some type of program; either a tour at the stations or the stations will be visiting the schools. This year the emphasis was placed on “fire drills – the great escape”. It is anticipated that more unannounced fire drills will take place over the next few months. Assistant Fire Marshal Borden reported that a recent fire took place in a residence within the City and that is where most fires occur and most people get hurt. VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS Vice Chair Magazine announced that the Safety Council of Palm Beach County has three programs scheduled: st Workplace Violence Prevention – October 21 th Methods and Techniques of Training – October 28 th OSHA’s Top 10 Citations – November 4 If anyone is interested in attending any of these sessions, please contact Risk Management for further information. 6 MEETING MINUTES SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA October 11, 1999 Monday, Chairman Majors announced that the next meeting would take place on th November 8. Mr. Ruffolo reported that the City parking lot on the corner of Seacrest and Ocean Avenue has no lights and can be dangerous for anyone using this lot after dark. Vice Chair Magazine thanked Mr. Ruffolo for bringing this to the attention of the Safety Committee and he will follow through with this. Vice Chair Magazine said that whenever any member is riding through the City and sees anything unsafe taking place or any conditions that are unsafe, to please report it. This is how to prevent injuries. X. ADJOURNMENT Vice Chair Magazine thanked outgoing Chair Majors for a job well done during his tenure as Chairman of the Safety Committee. Motion Ms. Mack moved to adjourn. Motion seconded by Mr. Ruffolo and the meeting properly adjourned at 11:05 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ________________________________ Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (one tape) 7