MAINE MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION Risk Management Services MRWA How We Get Hurt and Yes, Most of the Time, It’s Your Fault! Presented By: Ed MacDonald Loss Control Manager Risk Management Services Maine Municipal Association

Why have a Safety Program? Moral Obligation – As an employer you have duty to protect your employees from injury and illness on the job. Legal Obligation – Protection of employees is required by law. Cost Control – Insurance costs are based on potential exposures and past performance. There are “real costs” and “hidden costs” to workplace injuries.

Significant Injury Exposures in the Water/Wastewater Industry: Confined Space Entry Trenching Hazardous Chemicals Electrical Stored Energy (Lockout/Tagout) Mechanical Processes (machine guarding) Roadside Work/Traffic

Where do most of the workers compensation claims (employee injuries) come from? Slips/Trips/Falls Materials Handling/Lifting (back injuries and muscle strains) Use of tools (cuts, bruises, eye injuries) OSHA statistics confirm that the greatest causes of workplace injuries across all occupations nationally are Slips/Trips/Falls and Materials Handling.

Safety Program Key Components Management Commitment Safety Committee Develop Key Programs, Policies and Procedures Provide Training Maintain Records Track Losses & Identify Trending Implement a Post Injury/Accident Plan Accident Investigation Inspections Administration *

Who Might Do a Safety Inspection? OSHA (Private Sector) - Compliance MDOL - Courtesy (Voluntary) Insurer - MMA, Risk Management Services - Commercial Carrier, Loss Control Inspection Self - Staff - Safety Committee - Consultant

Why Inspect? ! Bottom line – Assure employee and public safety. Identify and correct existing physical hazards. Make sure that established policies and practices are current. Make sure that safety policies and procedures are being followed. Review safety equipment (example: PPE) is available, correct for the hazard, properly maintained and used. ! Bottom line – Assure employee and public safety.

“Engineering Out” a hazard exposure is preferred over other controls such a policies or personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE should be used ONLY when no other reasonable control can be implemented. Use of PPE is determined by doing a job hazard analysis(JHA) and PPE assessment.

What To Inspect? How Often? Are You Kidding Me? EVERYTHING! ALWAYS! NO!

- What To Inspect - Facility Inspection. Equipment Inspection. Inspection of Written Programs. Review of Required Training. Availability/Adequacy of Records.

How Often? Frequencies vary depending on compliance requirements, manufacturers recommendations, frequency of use, pre-use, magnitude of risk, situational analysis. Examples: Facility inspection by safety committee or designated individual might be annual/2-yr/monthly. Review of written programs; annual or when mandated by change.

Examples Continued: Equipment; by code, requirement, pre-use. * Fire Extinguisher – annual, monthly. Training annual. Records kept. * Trenching – by competent person. Daily – on-going.

Inspection Should Promote Training! With proper training, repeat issues should not recur. Post-inspection “To-Do” list is shorter. Employees are safer. Don’t wait for a scheduled inspection to address observed hazards! Inspect ALWAYS !

“You can observe a lot just by watching” -Yogi Berra

- Sources for Help - SafetyWorks! Maine Department of Labor 45 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 207-623-7900 Email: general.bls-safetyworks@maine.gov Website: www.safetyworksmaine.com Maine Municipal Association Risk Management Services Loss Control Department 60 Community Drive PO Box 9109 Augusta, ME 04332-9109 207-626-5583 Website: www.memun.org Best Practices – Safety Shorts – Online Training – Grants/Scholarships NNE Health & Safety Council 405 Western Ave #317 South Portland, ME 04116 207-85-8441 or 888-396-2047 Fax: 207-222-0105 Website: www.shcnne.org Office of State Fire Marshal 52 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 207-626-3870 Email: webmaster_fmo@maine.gov Website: www.maine.gov/dps/fmo/index.htm