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03/20/2004 Entry: "Minutes of Safety & Health Meeting - February 24, 2004"

PRESENT: Sam Gonzalez, Tom Scott, Norb Hackl, Gail Nohr, John Moker, John Durben, Janet Bieschke, Steven Langenberg, Jim Landry

The meeting was called to order at 10:20 AM

The minutes were read with the following corrections being made:
Sam stated that the stop bumps at the entrances will stay the way they are. That is the way they were intended. There was some concern for the use of motorcycles, that they may bottom out over these. It was suggested that maybe a cutout could be made in the middle or on the side of the stop bump. John Moker and Norb will check on this.

The second correction was that John Durben brought up that management should do baseline hearing tests now and when employees are hired so we have something to use as a comparison. Norb stated that he knew of nothing in the works for that, here or elsewhere. As for the change on the OSHA 300 Log, Norb believes that it was added due to a sudden, loud noise that could cause a hearing problem.

The minutes were approved as amended.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Forklifts are still going down the aisle by the swing room. Sam and Norb will send E-mails to the MDO’s, (SDO’s) to remind employees not to do this.

JSA on APC’s? The JSA is that employees can not push more that 1 APC at a time. They should not be pulling them. Sam and Norb will add this to the E-mail from above.

APWU

Norb passed around the current OSHA 300 Log. The summary is posted yearly from February to April in the area that it pertains to.

Only two Safety Talk Logs were handed in. Sam will reinforce that Safety Logs must be turned by the MDO’s monthly. They should be consolidated by Tour. Janet will talk to Tim Lewis and Tom Wertel.

Employee Suggestion Form status. Norb answered the form and returned it to the employee. The suggestion was implemented to put a “peephole” in the door of the office of the Injury Compensation Specialist.

Snow removal. The Annex did not get shoveled until 1430 on 2-6-04. An employee sent E-mails to Maintenance and Norb at 1000 AM with no response to the employee. John Moker stated that the Tour 1 employees must have the Annex done by 0630 or the lot will start to fill up with cars and it would be difficult to clear it after that. John Moker will look into this more. Sam stated that overtime will be authorized as needed to correct this problem. Bulk mail needs to monitored also. There should be SOP’s for all areas. Also we should have hand spreaders for salt. Maintenance had to be notified at least three times for snow removal or salting of the ramp outside of Bulk Mail. The Unit opens at 0900.

Battery room. The chargers should be marked so the maintenance employees know which batteries go on which chargers. John Moker, Al Taylor and John Durben will meet to discuss these concerns. Also the battery room is being used for storage for Mail Processing pallets on occasion. The Load Hog is parked in front of the eye wash and there are dead 12volt batteries stored there that should be disposed of. There is some excess chain on the hoist that should be cut off and rewelded. The batteries should be isolated from the metal frames. John will check on this. Lines could be painted on the floor to help get the battery lined up with the hoist for the forklift. The extra pieces welded on to the safety hooks are still a problem. John will check on this as well.

The status of the last Safety Inspection is that nothing has been turned in from the maintenance department. Defects are not being corrected for Cofrin or the GMF. These must be cleared up as we are on a National Database. Moker and Norb agreed that all abatements and reporting should be done in one month.

Update on security system at the GMF. Martel will be done with the inside work in 3-4 weeks. The outside will take longer. It will also take some time to program the employee badges. For Bulk Mail customers, regulars will have badges, if not they will have to hit a button to be let in by a Bulk Mail employee. Star route drivers will probably have ID’s with pictures but will only be able to go through the dock entrance. It is uncertain at this time if Bulk Mail customers will have photo ID badges. There may be a large turn-over in employees for some mailers.

Processing of 1767’s. Some are not being answered or responded to. Norb stated that maybe he could start a tickler file to keep track of the progress of 1767’s. Also the GMF was out of forms for weeks and Cofrin Station was out for months. Norb will send an
E-mail to the MDO’s, SDO’s and Station Managers to remind them to give employees 1767’s (and CA-1’s) and not discourage them from filling them out. Sam will have Norb come to the next staff meeting to discuss the proper way to handle and timely processing of 1767’s. John Durben pointed out at least eight 1767’s that had deficiencies or were incomplete.

John Durben asked for copies of the E-mails sent to MDO’s and SDO’s regarding Safety and Health issues to be sent to the committee members as well so that everyone gets the information at the same time. Norb said he would do that.

John Moker said he would have maintenance put up cement parking bumpers in front of RR case #21 to stop equipment from hitting the case and pushing it back.

NALC

Slips, trips and falls. There was some discussion on which method of delivery was more stable, the satchel or the arm. Using the satchel requires more twisting which could cause more back injuries. The Yak Track footwear seems to be working good but the stabilizers are more effective. The issue is balance. Maybe suggest in bad weather to try the satchel. Maybe suggest learning how to fall as a last resort. Training may have some films. Norb will try to get the film that Milwaukee made about new carriers and falls.

Crossing snow covered lawns. The policy is to leave it up to the carriers discretion. Take short cuts as safety allows. Veteran carriers should talk to their subs and caution them against cutting through the snow on slippery days. The carrier should tell the supervisor that it will take them longer to carry the route due to the snow. Even if the computer says that the route is 20 minutes under that is still not enough time to be safe when it is slippery. Scotty will talk with the supervisors to see if he can talk to the carriers at the next Safety or Service Talk.

Clean up of security project. There was a terrible mess around the men’s bathroom on the North side of the building. Maintenance should have given more time or work orders to clean up the mess daily to help keep it contained. The contractors did not clean up after themselves well, if at all.

Some of the seat belts in the LLV’s are frayed and need to be replaced. The carrier should turn in the checklist card and note that the seat belt is defective and the “whole unit” needs to be replaced.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11th at 10:15 AM.

The film Safety is the Key to Success was shown.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:45.

Norbert Hackl
Chairperson Safety & Health Committee