Safety Committee Meeting Minutes for November 13, 2007

Safety Committee Meeting Minutes 

November 13,2007 

Attending:  Kay Bauman, Janet Brooks, Denise Courts, Candace McDaniel 

Absent:  Ric Rea, Fariba Williams, Patrick Williams

Agenda: 

• Review of past meeting minutes 
• Quarterly Safety Checklist 
• OSHA Inspection Target List 
• Safety Slogan Contest 
• First Aid – Defibrillators 
• Worker’s Compensation Report 

Discussion: 

1. Communication was sent out to all Downtown staff members about the change in the evacuation assembly area.  A written procedure for emergency response at the downtown building was presented to the committee for review.  The procedure outlines specific assignments for staff members during evacuation.  The committee agreed that the procedure is thorough enough to be distributed to all staff members. E-mail communication will be sent to all downtown staff. 
2. The committee reviewed the current Quarterly Safety Checklist form and agreed to modify the form to allow more detail reporting of issues rather than yes/no responses.  A follow-up column will be added to the form so that resolution of problems can be tracked.  Clarification is needed to ensure a separate maintenance request is issued for problems indicated on the checklist.  It should not be assumed that maintenance will act on requests that are not submitted through the established electronic help request. The report should be copied to the Supervisor and the Safety Committee. Denise Courts agreed to be the contact person to receive the copies and present to the committee for review. 
3. During some recent research, Ric Rea discovered a target inspection list on the PEOSH website. The list prioritizes entities according to the number of reportable injuries.  Included on the target list are: Capital Hill Library, Jones Extension Library, Ralph Ellison Library and Village Library. The committee discussed what actions should be taken to prepare to the possible inspection of these (and all) locations.  In the next 30 days, a SafetyCommittee member will meet with the targeted locations’ manager and create a plan of action to correct any potential safety hazards in the building and ensure all staff members are acquainted with location and contents of the MLS Safety Manual and Material Safety Data Sheets. It was proposed that we create a checklist for relief staff covering the location and contents of the MLS Safety Manual and MSDS at the extension libraries. Denise will research the reported incidents from the past year to determine what possible hazards/violations should be corrected immediately. 
4. There were (7) entries in the Safety Slogan Contest.  The committee reviewed each entry and selected Betty Scott’s entry as the winner.  The slogan: Play it by the book, safety rules keep us in circulation will be used in future safety training materials for staff members. Betty will be notified and an announcement will be published in the next Shelf Life. 
5. Denise reviewed the latest injury report. We have had (6) injuries this year. We discussed what type of training would be appropriate to address the most common injuries on the report.  The committee will produce safety slides dealing with the issues as a reminder to all employees. It was suggested to add something on the Quarterly Safety Checklist reviewing any safety issues with injuries during the quarter and report what follow through was performed such as additional training or any repairs done to prevent future problems. There seems to be some confusion about the training requirement after an employee has experienced an accident.  Currently, the employee must have safety training directly related to the accident immediately upon returning to work.  Then the employee must complete one hour of safety training during the following quarter. 
6. Denise presented some material she received on portable defibrillators. After some discussion, the committee decided that it would not be appropriate for MLS to purchase this equipment for the agencies due to the high cost and the need for extensive training of staff members. It was mentioned that all MLS locations are in close proximity of a medical facility and/or emergency medical response and such equipment would not be necessary in most instances. 

Meeting adjourned – 11:30AM 

Next meeting  - January 8, 2008 – 10:00AM