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League of Minnesota Cities Program OSHA/Safety Assistance Training OSHA/Safety Assistance training sessions allow participants to
share technical information, learn safety management principles, and
understand general safety program implementation and maintenance. A new round
of the OSHA 100 Series will begin this autumn at six locations across
Minnesota. The OSHA 100 Series is comprised of sessions 101 and 102.
The registration fee is $15 per attendee per meeting (9 a.m.--2:30 p.m.) and
includes all materials and lunch. For more information, visit http://www.lmnc.org/page/1/OSHA101.jsp
or contact Amy Mansager at amansager@lmc.org
or (651) 281-1240. Windom – 10/14/08 St. Cloud – 10/15/08 Fergus Falls –
10/16/08 Thief River Falls –
10/28/08 Mountain Iron – 10/29/08 St. Paul – 10/30/08 Safety & Loss Control Workshops The 2009 League of
Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust Safety and Loss Control Workshops
are scheduled from March 31 through
April 30 at nine locations throughout Minnesota.
City officials employed in public works and parks and recreation departments
are urged to attend, as are police officers, clerks and administrators,
agents working with cities, risk managers and safety coordinators, human
resources staff, directors, superintendents, and supervisors from cities of
all sizes. The registration fee for the one-day event (8:30 a.m.--3:30 p.m.) is $20, which covers all
materials and lunch. Participants can gain valuable information to help
your city prevent future claims. For more information, contact Amy
Mansager at amansager@lmc.org
or (651) 281-1240. Marshall – 3/31/09 Mankato – 4/1/09 Mahnomen – 4/7/09 Alexandria – 4/8/09 Brooklyn Park – 4/15/09 Rochester – 4/21/09 St. Paul – 4/22/09 St. Cloud – 4/28/09 Biwabik – 4/30/09 Regional Safety Groups Regional
Safety Groups, open to any city to participate in, are a flexible way for
Minnesota cities to meet state and federal OSHA mandates. The League of
Minnesota Cities partners with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association
to deliver these services. Regional Safety Groups work as a team to: ·
Establish a safety committee, hold safety
meetings, and develop safety coordinators. ·
Develop an ongoing meeting and training
schedule at the times, dates, and locations that work best for cities in the
group. ·
Identify as many as 12 safety training
topics per year. Fifty percent of training costs are covered by LMCIT, and
each group decides how to split the remaining costs among themselves. ·
Take advantage of free web-based training
endorsed by the National Safety Council and provided through FirstNet
Learning. For more information on Regional Safety Groups, visit http://www.lmnc.org/page/1/RegionalSafetyGroups.jsp,
or contact Chris White at cwhite@lmc.org
or (651) 215-4069. MMUA and the League of
Minnesota Cities MMUA and the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) have worked closely
for many years on a variety of topics, particularly on legislative issues.
(In fact, MMUA sprang forth from an LMC committee, in the early 1930s.) Now, the two entities
are working ever more closely, through a burgeoning partnership between the
League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) and MMUA’s job training
and safety division. Several years ago,
LMCIT, in partnership with MMUA, created the OSHA/Safety Assistance Program
to provide cities with the tools needed to comply with OSHA requirements and
address employee safety needs. This program involves
structured safety meetings in specific locations coordinated by LMCIT and
MMUA. These meetings are intended to ‘train the trainer.’ However, many
participants reportedly found it difficult to return to their cities and
implement the training and policies shared at the OSHA/Safety Assistance
meetings. Partly in response to
that issue, Sam Shult, former Winthrop city administrator, thought it made
sense to get the cities and utilities together for safety training. This also
had the benefit of lessening the per-city cost of safety training visits.
Shult was familiar with both MMUA and the LMCIT, since Winthrop was a member
of both organizations. Winthrop and other
cities in Sibley County had formed an informal network known as the Sibley
Group. This group, working with the LMCIT and MMUA, officially started
meeting on safety issues in August/September of 2005 and has grown to include
nine cities. Following the success
of the Sibley Group in meeting member safety needs, three other LMCIT safety
groups have formed. They are the Lakes Group (six cities) located in the
Pequot Lakes area, the Pine County Group (four cities) in the Hinckley area
and the Region Three Group (eight cities) in the Rockville area. The LMCIT is
also providing direct assistance to other members interested in developing
regional safety groups. Kurt Rothwell is MMUA’s liaison to the
LMCIT. Rothwell is an MMUA safety assistance program leader/regional safety
coordinator. “Each group is a
little different,” Rothwell said. “Meeting dates, times and locations are
flexible and worked out with the participants.” MMUA, LMCIT and the
participating cities also narrow down a list of 30 or so topics to 12-14 that
Rothwell prepares presentations for the coming year. Some groups want a topic
every month, some every two months with on-site visits or mock OSHA
inspections on the non-presentation month. The cities rotate the
training/presentations so each city hosts them in an order that is decided by
the group. “We would like the
groups to be less than nine cities so we can visit each site twice in the
year and so there is not a lot of travel time between the training
locations,” Rothwell said. “Six cities in a group would be ideal for training
and onsite visits but we will work with whatever the groups decide is best
for them.” In addition to this
work, Rothwell also works regularly with a group of MMUA members as a
regional safety coordinator but is striving to be full time with the LMC/MMUA
groups in the near future. The LMCIT’s Tracie
Chamberlin said “MMUA has been a valuable resource in many of LMCIT’s loss
control initiatives. Whether the
activity involves delivery of a session at an OSHA/Safety Assistance meeting
or consulting with a member on a specific safety issue, we appreciate that we
can rely on the professionals at MMUA to get the job done and keep the LMCIT
loss control team in the loop.” Chamberlin said her
organization is eager to continue its long-term relationship with the MMUA.
“Providing on-site safety consulting, advice and training to our LMCIT
members is no small undertaking and we are fortunate to be able to work with
the professionals at MMUA for assistance in accomplishing this goal,” she
said. “We look forward to working with MMUA as we continue to provide safety
and loss control programs and services to our members.” Should your city/utility have a safety committee? According
to the League of Minnesota Cities, Minn. Statutes, section 182.676, deals with
safety committees and requires all employers with more than 25 workers to
have a joint labor-management safety committee. The law references safety
committee requirements for employers with 25 or fewer employees, but it is
unclear whether they would apply to a city. Perhaps the best method of
interpreting this statute would be for any city with numerous losses to
seriously consider forming a safety committee, regardless of the number of
employees. |
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Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association
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