Hanover School Division
Report of the Workplace Safety and Health Committee Meeting
HSD Board Room 1:00P.M.
December 15, 2005
Members Present:
Employer Representatives
Marcia Henzel Board Representative – Employer Chair
Lynn BarkmanBoard Representative
John PetersChief Safety Officer(regrets)
Ken KlassenAssistant Safety Officer – Program / Students
Bob ProulxAssistant Safety Officer – Buildings and Grounds
Robert WarkentinSafety Program Coordinator
Employee Representatives
Ron OulionHanover Teachers Association Representative
Leon ReimerHanover Association of Principals (arrived at 2:00 p.m.)
Susan PennerCUPE – Bus Drivers
Corey WiebeNon – Organized Support Staff
Patty PennerCLAC – Educational Assistants
Grant MaySRSS WSH Committee Representative
Employee Chair Ron Oulion chaired the meeting.
- Reviewed October 20, 2005 WHS minutes for errors or omissions.
Approved as written.
- Review of issues resolved by Committee Members:
a)Spot Inspection: Bob Proulx did a spot inspection at a workplace and discovered paper stacked on top of an electrical transformer in a mechanical room. Bob sent a memo requesting the paper be removed immediately. Completed
b)Ice on school pads: A request was made by one of the schools to sand and salt the school pads. The HSD Maintenance staff was asked to sand all pads in the division. The sidewalks and entrances are the responsibility of the custodian to sand. Completed
c)Basket Ball Relocation: Royal Stewart was hired to relocate 27 basketball winches throughout the school division. The work has been completed.
d)Rodent Control @ Niverville Elementary: Poulin Exterminators were hired to bait the crawl space at NES due to sighting of rodent. Their first intervention appears to have been successful however; Poulin Exterminators will come back and do a follow up inspection and report to Bob Proulx. Complete
e)Lab Chemical Disposal: All schools have submitted lists of chemicals that need disposal. Bob will be contacting chemical disposal companies to get price quotes. The expected time of chemical removal is spring break 2006. In Progress
f)ISIS Environmental Consulting Report: ISIS has been hired to identify all the asbestos in all of our buildings. Asbestos is only a danger when it is disturbed. ISIS has created a manual for each building documenting where the asbestos is. ISIS will lead a training seminar for maintenance, custodial and computer technicians on Jan 23,2006. In progress
g)Updated WHS Employee/Employer Representative Lists: Robert Warkentin circulated updated Divisional Committee and Workplace Representative lists. These are to be posted in all workplace WHS Bulletin Boards.
3. Follow up discussion on topics from last meeting:
Date of Origin / Concern or Problem / Recommendation / Action by / ResultsOct 20/05 / Public Address call in feature not available in all classrooms and in smaller meeting rooms. / Options discussed:
- Provide portable 2-way communication
- Create a buddy system for teachers and EA’s
- Clarify Crisis Team procedure for all
- Create buddy system for EA’s and teachers
- Ensure that Crisis Team Plan is clear and all are aware of how it works
-Consider purchasing two-way portable communication for all staff working with at risk students in rooms with no call-in device.
Additional Concern expressed by EA –noon hour supervisors responding to emergencies:
Ron will bring this to the attention of HTA and Grant will take this back to the SRSS School WHS Committee.
Make sure that schools have a designated teacher on call at noon hour, as per contract – on-call teacher take charge and should be easily reached, possibly by portable 2-way communication and must be able to reach crisis team immediately.
Oct 20/05 / Emergency Lighting in interior rooms i.e. libraries, gyms, vocational labs / Short term: provide flashlights to rooms that have no natural light. / Bob Proulx and Ron Oulion will look into more robust emergency options and report back next meeting / -Some emergency lighting has been installed at the SRSS.
All workplaces should have flashlights available for emergency situations
Oct 20/05 / Eyewash Stations /
- All schools should have at very minimum a portable eyewash station. (bottles)
- Schools with permanently plumbed stations should run water daily to ensure clean fresh water
- Bob Proulx will check on a retrofit package that could turn a drinking fountain into an eyewash station and report back.
- Robert Warkentin will check each workplace for compliance.
Every workplace should have an eyewash bottle kit and replace with potable water annually.
Oct 20/05 / Fastening unsecured millwork throughout workplaces /
- All millwork brought into schools should be approved by Division Maintenance.
Oct 20/05 / School Storage /
- Have a school clean up day. Division maintenance to provide a truck to be used for a clean up day. All items would be disposed of correctly.
- There is to be a 3-foot clearance around all electrical panels in all mechanical and boiler rooms.
- Ken Klassen to bring up at Admin Council
- Bob Proulx will provide a one-page summary of disposal options and recommendations.
4. Accident/Incident Report:
No accidents to report. One incident reported from Niverville Collegiate. A staff member fell in the lobby while the custodian was waxing and buffing the floor. No wet floor signs were posted. It is HSD policy to have signs posted when the floor is wet. Procedures and expectations were clarified for the custodian by the Maintenance Supervisor.
5. Report on Workplace Inspections:
Follow-up Report from the initial workplace inspections in October:
136 of the 163 items that were identified have been completed
27 items are still in progress
Report from the second round of workplace inspections in December:
19 of 22 workplaces reporting
96 items listed
57 workplace level issues
30 issues referred to HSD Maintenance
1 item referred to HSD Computer Dept.
4 items that were not required by code
4 items that were completed already
6. Report on HSD Divisional Committee Workplace Inspection November 30, 2005
On November 30, 2005 4 members of the HSD Divisional WHS Committee, along with the workplace representatives conducted workplace inspections. The Divisional Committee will inspect all Hanover workplaces over the course of a two-year time frame. The workplaces inspected were Mitchell Middle School, Mitchell Elementary School and the HSD Administration Office. These inspections served as the workplace inspections for the December submission.
The next workplaces to be inspected by the Divisional Committee are:
HSD Warehouse
Elmdale School
SRSS
The inspection will take place Thursday Feb 16, 2006.
9:00AM @ HSD Warehouse
10:00 AM @ Elmdale
1:00 PM @ SRSS
Attending from HSD WSH Committee will be Bob Proulx, Robert Warkentin, Marcia Henzel, Ron Oulion (Warehouse and Elmdale), Patty Penner (SRSS) as well as the workplace employee and employer representative for each worksite.
7. Discussion Topics from December Workplace Inspection:
a)Continuing School Clean-up project: A one page clean up sheet has been developed to give schools some help with what to do with some of the things that accumulate in the schools. This page will be distributed to all schools and posted.
b)Training Dates and Topics: A half day training seminar is being planed for February 9,2006 at the SRSS Theatre. All workplace employee and employer reps are expected to attend. The topic will be a brief overview of how the Safety Program has been working. The bulk of the time will be spent in a question and answer format. If there are any specific questions or issues that need clarity, please submit via email to Robert Warkentin so we can be sure that all questions are answered.
c)Another half-day training session will be held in on May 25 to review the year and to train new workplace representatives for 06 – 07. Workplaces are asked to have their employee representatives in place for 06-07 by mid- May to allow for training. If HSD WSH employee representatives are changing, the respective union groups should appoint the new representative in time for this training session. It is hoped that representatives will have multi-year terms, wherever possible, to allow for continuity and growing expertise.
8. New Business
Access to Custodial / Boiler / Electrical Rooms by teachers and students – A protocol will be developed that clearly spells out terms of access for anyone but the custodian:
No students should have access to these rooms at any time.
Teacher’s access rights and responsibilities need to be reviewed at the school level.
Use of divisional labs, equipment after hours:
This needs to be reviewed and clarified with protocol as well– at the very minimum work alone rules must be followed and staff must have clearance from the workplace supervisor / principal to be in the building, and in the case of a lab or classroom, clearance from the teacher normally in charge of that work area. The staff member using the lab or equipment is fully responsible for materials, supplies, maintenance and replacement costs in the case of damage.
Adjournment: 2:30 p.m.
Next Meeting:March 23, 2006
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Ron Oulion
Employee Co-Chair
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Marcia Henzel
Employer Chair