Safety Committee Minutes

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MINUTES
HEALTH and SAFETY MEET & CONFER COMMITTEE MEETING
July 23, 2008

Members present: Leon Bowman – Chair, Unit 2; Mike O’Dea, Unit 6; Dennis Blumke, Unit 7; Mike Keapproth, Unit 8; Jeff Fowler, Council 5 Staff Liaison

For the State: Todd Christenson, Joy Hargons, Terry Lahti, Don Beckering, Mike Loecher, Susan Thibedeau-Coilan, Todd Haglin, Ev Wright

The Committee discussed the questions for the High Voltage and Asbestos survey. Jeff stated the Union has received several responses from the letter to presidents and gave management a list of questions for the survey. Both sides will use the same questions so the results can be easily analyzed. Survey will be conducted in August and the results discussed at the September meeting.

The Winona State OSHA violations were discussed. Management stated that the Attorney General was working on formulating a settlement. The biggest concern was over the amount of fines, all of the violations will stand. Leon said that another complaint was filed with OSHA for another violation concerning asbestos at WSU. The Union was concerned that WSU didn’t get seriousness of this problem.

Safety issues at the Minnesota Zoo were discussed. Short staffing continues to be a concern. The Zoo have hired two Keepers, one only part time, to make up for the loss of a long term employee, the committee said that these hiring’s were planned prior to the Keepers vacancy so there were still concerns, the committee discussed the Keepers having chemical irritants for emergency use. Additionally, there was a discussion on farm employees working alone, and the possibility of panic buttons or additional staff. The Union Committee also brought up the recent situation concerning underground utility location. Joy said the Zoo is investigating and should be finished soon.

The proposed Fleet Management driver background check was discussed. This was put together by risk management, each department is given guidelines and asked to adopt there own policy. This only affects people who have driving as a condition of employment. This will take effect ASAP. The Committee thinks the policy needs review and felt this should be an issue for bargaining.

Correction issues were again discussed. The Committee asked when a new safety director would be hired. The Committee has brought these problems up several times and has yet to see any progress. The Committee feels that if a resolution is not reached soon we will go to outside agencies.

In regards to DNR office safety, Dennis Blumke and Terry Lahti are going to tour DNR offices for site inspection.

CBHH safety was discussed concerning the policy of calling police for emergency situations. The Committee reports employees were discouraged from calling police due to tazers being used to subdue violent clients. Supervisors said it could endanger accreditation. Todd said he would investigate and report at the next meeting.

The next meeting will be August 27th, 2008 @ 1pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeff Fowler
State Health & Safety Liaison
AFSCME Council 5, AFL-CIO

JF/alh

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