June 25, 2003

- The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Library -

MEMBERS PRESENT: Thomas Christensen, Rick Dickhaut, Darby Fuerst, Debby Martin, Cynthia Schmidlin

I. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

OLD BUSINESS

1. USGS Water Safety Policy: Darby Fuerst distributed his draft of a MPWMD safety policy regarding measurements, sampling, and related stream gauging activities, tailoring some aspects of the USGS Water Safety Policy to District operations. Team members determined that this should not be a new stand-alone policy, but rather be added as a new section of the existing Carmel River Safety Policy in the District’s Illness and Injury Prevention Program (IIPP). Thomas will purchase 4 new personal flotation devices for the District. Two will be stored in the Harris Court garage and two in the Carmel Valley Shop.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Garage Door Safety: Team Safety went to the Harris Court garage to investigate a possible hazard reported though the District’s Safety Suggestion Program. The large roll-up garage door has no safety features at all. There is no laser beam auto stop feature and the “Stop” button on wall switch doesn’t do anything. Once the door starts closing it continues to the floor. Hitting the open button can reverse the process, but this solution might not be obvious in an emergency. This creates the potential for the door closing on something or someone. Rick Dickhaut will contact the company that installed the door and check to see one or both of the stop features can be installed.

2. New Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Cynthia Schmidlin discussed the move from the Rural Special Districts workers’ compensation program to the Special Districts Risk Management Authority effective July 1, 2003. The District’s current Workers’ Compensation Insurance through the Rural Special Districts Insurance Program will be discontinued after June 30, 2003. Therefore, the District Board voted to approve our participation in the Special Districts Risk Management Authority (SDRMA) Workers’ Compensation Program. SDRMA has provided the District with property, auto, and general liability insurance coverage since l996. On July 1, 2003, SDRMA will merge with the currently separate Special Districts Workers’ Compensation Authority (SDWCA) and provide one-stop services. SDRMA has a proven track record with the District of responsiveness to customer needs, and a proactive risk management program with excellent safety training support services. The Rural Special Districts plan had very reasonable premiums which saved the District a good amount of money, but it did not follow through on promised training. We look forward to getting back on track with our regular safety training with this change.

3. Violence in the Workplace Prevention: Team members discussed the new District policy restricting access to non-public areas of the MPWMD office to individuals who are not District employees, general counsel, current Board Members, District consultants or other visitors with express authorization. Debbie Martin suggested that since this is a safety issue Team Safety should consider getting signs to indicate non-public areas. Team members agreed. Debbie also described a training course entitled “Security Essentials for Front Desk Professionals” that had come to the attention of the Water Demand Division. Water Demand staff deals directly with the public for most of their duties. They have encountered some individuals who have exhibited angry and intimidating behavior regarding the permit process and enforcement of District ordinances and are particularly interested in attending a course addressing organizational security and emergency response techniques. Debbie suggested that this type of training would also be of value to other District employees who receive and meet with the public.

Cynthia noted that this would fit into the category of Violence in the Workplace Prevention training, which had been given to all District staff 5 years ago and was due again. One criticism of the earlier training had been its emphasis on potential violence from fellow staff members rather than strategies for defusing angry or upset visitors or property owners. The “Security Essentials” program seems to meet the latter criteria. Cynthia will follow up with the company to see if a customized training could be arranged that would benefit a wide number of District employees.

4. Other Safety Training: Other proposed training for the upcoming fiscal year are

CPR recertification, respirator/pesticide training, fire safety, confined spaces extraction and emergency procedures/disaster planning.

II. NEXT TEAM SAFETY MEETING