Loading...
Minutes 09-11-00MINUTES OF THE SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN CITY HALL IN THE MALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2000 AT 10:00 A.M. PRESENT Chuck Magazine, Chairman Tom Balfe Mark Bobich Curlene Baker Tom Egnaczyk Barbara Madden Dorothy Mack Katie McCray Steve Lulkin Eugene Ruffolo Jos~ Soto Sharon Tierney Carisse Weise Risk Management Parks Utilities Admin/EWTP Communications Golf Course City Clerk's Office Human Resources Fire Recreation Utilities/WVVTP Public Works ITS City Manager ABSENT Wendy Danish Police A.D. Henehan, Jr. Library Dominic DeMauro Warehouse Mike Rumpf Planning I. Call to Order Chairman Magazine 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 14, 2000 Reqular Meeting Mr. Bobich requested the addition of the words "wastewater to control odors and protect the sewage pipes" at the end of the first sentence of the first paragraph on Page 5 ending with the word "oxidizing", Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting BOynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 Motion Ms. Weise moved to accept the minutes of the August 14, 2000 meeting, as amended. Motion seconded by Mr. Egnaczyk and unanimously carried. IV. Safety Committee Education and Training Program None V: Old Business A. Fire Drills Ms. McCray stated that there have been no fire drills to report. Chairman Magazine responded that the City's facilities and personnel need to be tested to make sure that buildings can be evacuated properly. B. Safety Newsletter The newsletter should be going out this week and will be a two-month edition. C. "Proud to be a Safe Worker" Award There were no awards to announce. Chairman Magazine pointed out that this is a very significant award. It is important that employees be recognized whenever they do anything above and beyond the call of duty. D. Departmental Inspections and Safety Meetings Chairman Magazine distributed the monthly reports for the departmental inspections and safety meetings. Mr. Bobich inquired if Chairman Magazine received his inspections for the months of June and July? Chairman Magazine indicated that he did receive them, but did not include them on the report. He will make the proper corrections to the report. Chairman Magazine would like to have an employee onboard for every shift in every department that can perform CPR. Ms. McCray confirmed that the Fire Department still offers CPR training and Chairman Magazine will include information on CPR training in the newsletter. He announced that defibrillators will be placed at the tennis center and at the beach, especially in light of the corporate games that will be taking place at the tennis center. Mr. Bobich suggested that a defibrillator be located at the Senior Center. Ms. Weise inquired if the CPR classes sponsored by the Fire Department are also for recertification and Ms. McCray stated that they were. The question was 2 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 raised if it was mandatory that a person in each department be trained in CPR. Chairman Magazine stated that a previous Risk Manager had initiated a program where every City employee was required to be CPR certified, but this was unrealistic. Also, this would not be a concept that the City should adopt from a liability standpoint. This has now been changed and CPR training is not mandatory. However, it is open to all employees who wish to take the training. Also, it is up to the department to determine if this is a requirement based upon the job description. Ms. Weise also pointed out that there is a Florida State law called the Good Samaritan law that protects a person from suit when giving someone CPR that they cannot be sued as long as they perform the CPR in the manner that they have been trained. Also, Chairman Magazine stated that certification must also be maintained. E. Defensive Driver CoUrse More classes will be given starting in January 2001 due to the fact that those people who were trained three years ago will now be required to become recertified. Also, recertification will be necessary to continu~e to receive automobile insurance discounts. F. Safety Belt Use Project Team Chairman Magazine reported that he continues to see employees not wearing their seatbelts. If a person finds that their seatbelt doesn't work, they should immediately bring the vehicle in for repair and a broken seatbelt is not an acceptable excuse. He pointed out that if a person is involved in an accident and is injured, but was not wearing a seatbelt, their worker's compensation wage replacement would be reduced by 25%. This applies to both City vehicles and to employees driving their own vehicles while on City business. The 80% goal for compliance has not been reached, as there are always employees who do not follow the rules. Ms. Weise stated that there are a great many new employees who may not be aware of this rule. Chairman Magazine said he has a presentation available on seatbelt use and would be pleased to show it in any department that would like to view it. Ms. Weise suggested placing posters of employees wearing seat belts on departmental billboards. Mr. Bobich stated that the Sheriff's Department or the Florida Highway Department used to go out to various City's with an apparatus called a "convincer" that lets a person ride down a ramp which simulates the repercussions of a 5 mph impact. Chairman Magazine said this would be a good demonstration for the Health Fair next year. 3 Meeting Minutes _i Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 G. Incident Review Board Referrals None VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Infection Control Policy (Mark Bobich) Mr. Bobich reported that the City has an infection control policy, also known as a blood borne pathogen policy, dating back to 1993. At the time it was enacted it was geared toward the firemen and paramedics and has since been expanded to some of the utility workers and janitorial staff. Mr. Bobich said he is re-writing the policy. When it comes to the City's safety policy, accidents or "near misses" are reported. However, if the blood borne pathogen policy is involved, and it is a "near miss", it is not reported. Mr. Bobich pointed out the types of incidents that don't get reported and the types of incidents that do, such as a cut or needle stick. Mr. Bobich feels that an incident should be reported as well under this policy. Chairman Magazine suggested that a committee be formed to look at all the different policies in the City and come up with one policy that would cover everybody for blood borne pathogen. Also, it needs to be determined who should be contacted to handle different types of exposure. Deputy Chief Ness is supposed to be contacted in the event anybody is exposed to a blood borne pathogen. Mark Bobich, Katie McCray and Tom Egnaczyk indicated they would serve on the committee. Chairman Magazine also suggested contacting other departments that would have an interest in this policy to determine if they would like to participate. When a draft policy has been prepared, Chairman Magazine said he would present it to Dr. Landman to review. B. Workplace Violence Policy (Mark Bobich) Mr. Bobich noted that the City recently offered another training on violence in the workplace, but the City still does not have a policy on violence in the workplace. One was drafted several years ago, but never came to fruition. Mr. Bobich feels it is important that a workplace policy towards violence needs to be in place, plus the disciplinary actions that should be taken and what actions constitute violence in the work place needs to be defined. Chairman Magazine noted that the recent training was offered by the Florida Partnership for Safety and Health and was a very goOd session. He has since spoken to Ms. Spoerri, the City's Professional Development Manager, about coming up with violence in the work place and sexual harassment training. 4 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 At the last session a policy was handed out to attendees and Chairman Magazine said he will try to fashion something for the City from this handout. Chairman Magazine said he would like to have a Zero Tolerance Policy on violence in the workplace. Members discussed at length the types of self-defense situations that could arise and that each situation should be looked at separately. Mr. Ruffolo said that this kind of policy could go against union policies. Ms. Mack said the policy should be Zero Tolerance, which is the same as in the schools. Ms. Weise stated there is no room. for violence in the workplace. Chairman Magazine responded that if a co-worker strikes another a co-worker, that person should be fired. Ms. Weise pointed out that there is counseling available to City employees and if an employee exhibits a great deal of volatility, they should be suspended until they receive counseling. Chairman Magazine stated that City employees have to assume certain responsibilities for themselves and the City cannot baby-sit everyone. If a person is having problems outside of work, they need to take the initiative to get help. Mr. Bobich reported that a few years ago the City purchased two tapes. One tape was for violence in the workplace training for supervisors and one for employees. There was also a third tape purchased for viewing by customer service personnel. Chairman Magazine said that he had these tapes and would look at them to determine their usefulness. Chairman Magazine said he would draft a policy and bring it back to the Committee for review. Ms. McCray asked if there was a board that hears disciplinary problems or some type of grievance board in the City? With regard to the standards established, it was asked who would enforce these standards? Chairman Magazine said that they should be enforced by the City. Mr. Bobich stated that there already is an Incident Review Board in the City. Ms. Weise suggested that these incidents should be heard by the Incident Review Board and should be stated in the policy. Chairman Magazine did not feel this was the proper venue for violence in the workplace and the Incident Review Board is a safety board. Under the old Civil Service Rules there used to be a grievance board. However, this no longer exists. Mr. Bobich suggested that an outside arbitrator should be utilized in these circumstances. Chairman Magazine also noted that if an employee feels they were unjustly terminated, they have the right to go to court. C. Safety Policies Review Chairman Magazine reported that he is contemplating establishing a committee that would be chaired by the Vice Chairperson of the Safety Committee to begin 5 Meeting Minutes - Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 a review of the city-wide safety policies. He would like this done at least on a biennial review. D. Elections Mr. Bobich reported that at the last meeting the formation of a nominating committee was not addressed as was intended. Mr. Bobich stated that after he realized this, he spoke with Chairman Magazine who appointed him chair of the nominating committee, along with Richard Fiege. After discussion, it was determined that Carisse Weise was their choice for Vice Chairperson of the Safety Committee and are formally nominating Ms. Weise. Chairman Magazine pointed out that normally the Vice Chairperson moves up to Chair. However, the current Vice Chair, A.D. Henehan, stated because he had missed so many meetings, he did not wish to move up to Chair. In light of this, Chairman Magazine said he has agreed to remain as Chair for another year to assist with training the new Vice Chair to take over the chairmanship next year. Mr. Bobich announced that even though the nominating committee nominated Ms. Weise for Vice Chairperson, the floor was still open for nominations if anyone else wished to run for Chairman or Vice Chair. Chairman Magazine opened up the floor for nominations for Chairperson. There were no other nominations; therefore, the nominations were closed. Motion Ms. Weise moved that Chuck Magazine be elected Chairman. Motion seconded by Ms. Tierney and unanimously carried. The floor was opened up for nominations for Vice Chairperson. There were no other nominations; therefore, the nominations were closed. Chairman Magazine called for a vote for the nomination of Carisse Weise as Vice Chairperson. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Bobich felt that Ms. Weise would be a good addition as Vice Chairperson and would be of great assistance in getting programs off the ground. E. Other None VII. Announcements 6 Meeting Minutes Safety Committee Meeting Boynton Beach, Florida September 11, 2000 Chairman Magazine distributed the most recent flyers from the Safety Council of Palm Beach County for members to take with them. He pointed out that the Safety Council has also initiated a new program entitled the Advanced Safety Management Program. It was announced that the Safety Council of Palm Beach County and Risk Insurance Management Society of Palm Beach County and the City of Boynton Beach are sponsoring the Safety Council Second Annual Kid's Classic Golf Tournament. The tournament is scheduled to take place at The Links at Boynton Beach on Saturday, October 7, 2000. Posters on worker's compensation fraud were distributed to members for display in departments and work areas. VIII. Next Meeting Date: Monday, October 9, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. IX. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 11:20 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (two tapes) 7