Attendees: Kathy Black, Jerry Roseman, Barry Scott, Kendall Banks, Louise Carpino, Mario Ferrari, Rita Urwitz, Jamilla Abdur Rahman, Hilary Cornell, Levar Clark

1. Thermal Comfort Policy Status – YaY!!! The Thermal Comfort Policy was signed by the MDO on 11/26/07 and will be issued shortly to all departments. Concerns were raised about enforcement of the policy, which will involve relocating/reassigning employees in certain situations, in the face of reluctance from local departmental managers. Barry responded that these issues would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

2. Bomb Threat Policy – Kathy raised concerns about communication in connection with the Bomb Threat Policy by describing a bomb scare that occurred at 1515 Arch Street in October during which there was little or no communication with building occupants and so there was chaos. Barry acknowledged the problems that occurred during the incident but differentiated a “bomb scare” from a “bomb threat.” According to Barry what happened at 1515 Arch is characterized as a “bomb scare” (i.e someone reported a “suspicious package” inside the building) vs a “bomb threat” – i.e. a “called-in” threat.

The policy is primarily designed to respond to “Bomb Threats” in which there is a 2-phased response: (1) Investigation; and (2) Specific response IF something is found. Risk will continue to work on improving the way “bomb scares” are dealt with, keeping in mind that the police department is in control once a bomb scare is reported.

Barry also said that fire captain training will be set up and this new policy will be on the agenda. He recognizes the fine line that exists between providing communication to reduce anxiety and meeting the requirements of the police. The police often do not want anything communicated, and view evacuation as an opportunity for injury.

3. Ergonomic Training for Court Employees – Courts have finally agreed to conduct training and that the training will be mandatory. Three (3) training locations have been designated- 1801 Vine Street; 1401 Arch Street; and 34 S. 11th Street. Union involvement was not solicited or allowed. Shonda Holloway will do individual assessments for each employee who has gone to the training session.

4. New Attorney – The new attorney, Hilary Cornell was briefly introduced, but did she did not stay to participate in the meeting.

5. Probation Officers and Personal Vehicle – – The problems and issues raised by Tony Moore (Local 810) at the previous quarterly meeting, related to the real-world need for probation officers to use personal vehicles when conducting home visits (for juvenile offenders), were addressed by the First Judicial District agreeing to accept personal car use as a customary and necessary element of probation officer work.

The use of the Personal Auto Program (P.A.P.) will be determined based on the percentage of time that the P.O. uses his/her car – it is for 60%+ drivers.

The next issue that will be tackled by Risk, the FJD and Local 810 will be the details associated with mileage reimbursement

6. Toxic Mold - Risk did not yet have the protocol ready to distribute as the first draft that was developed needed major revisions. At the previous meeting Mike Rudman said that he was working on the protocol, investigation techniques, etc., with Risk’s consultant, One Source. Risk objected to the word “toxic,” and will not be using it in the protocol.

7. Health & Safety Committee Training - Risk provided a one page summary titled “Overview and Requirements for Departmental Safety Committees” [dated 11/7/07] that addressed many of the concerns expressed by the union at the previous meeting.

Worker representatives are to be selected by the union and only if the union has no employees to select, can the department ask the union, in writing, if it is ok for the department to ask for volunteers.

There was agreement that financial and other incentive programs aimed at rewarding people for reductions in workplace injury-illness are not appropriate.

Finally, Barry stated that the Safety Committee “model” is considered to be a pro-active or performance-based approach instead of a grievance-based approach.

Rich Shreve was identified as the consultant who has attended some department Health and Safety Committee meetings. His role will be to help with maintenance of committees, continuity, meeting state requirements, and evaluating success.

The union expressed concerns that too much uniformity was expected of the department committees. While we understand the need for certain consistencies and requirements, there are enough differences among the work areas that allowances should be made. Risk replied that the State doesn’t make many allowances but they would work with us as best they can on specific issues.

Risk also said that the State allows for separate committees for different unions in the same workplace. They also agreed with the Union that specific issue training would be good for committee members.

8. Airport Update – Jack McCourt has resigned from his position as Health & Safety Director of the Airport (he has since rescinded that resignation and remains at the Airport in the same position).

The investigation of the accidental death of a DC33 member at the airport continues. There will definitely be lessons learned from this tragic episode, which we hope will be applicable to others. Fairmount Park will be providing some safety training for the Pavement and Grounds Crew at the airport, and specific procedures for their work will be produced in writing.

9. COPA II Forms – Barry reported that the change from Ward North America to CSI as the city’s TPA slowed the capture of data from these forms, so they do not yet have useful data from the revised forms. They are tracking which departments are turning in forms accurately, completely and timely.

Regarding forwarding DC47 members’ forms to Kathy Black, Barry admitted that he had failed to convey this procedure to Comp Services until reminded and he agreed to make sure they followed this procedure in the future.

Our next meeting was set for Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 10:00 a.m. at Risk Management’s office, 1515 Arch Street, 14th floor.