Minutes of Employee Safety Committee Meeting on 9/15/00

Harvey Mudd College Employee Safety Committee
*******************************************

Minutes from Meeting on September 15, 2000

In Attendance:

Annie Atiyeh (Physics - annie_atiyeh@hmc.edu)
Debra Heavenston (Human Resources - debra heavenston@hmc.edu)
Lillian McCollum (Chemistry - lillian_mccollum@hmc.edu)
Elaine Guerra (Biology - elaine_guerra@hmc.edu)
Tony Pennington (EH&S Manager - tonyp@cuc.claremont.edu)
Mike Wheeler (Machine Shop - mike_wheeler@hmc.edu)
Dan Pereira (Engineering - dan_pereira@hmc.edu)
Chris Broome, Director of HMC Dining Services

Agenda Items:

1)  SAFETY TRAINING SESSIONS
    Two training sessions in Basic Safety will be offered during
    October.  Both sessions will be held in the Stauffer Lounge
    from 11:00 until 12 noon.  Thursday, October 12, is for staff 
    training and Thursday, October 19, is the date for faculty.

    Tony gave information on Defensive Driving training.  Since
    the cost is $30.00 per person, a firm committment is required
    from each participant.  Perhaps Senior Staff should be
    approached  concerning the benefits of this training. Following 
    some discussion, the matter was tabled until the next meeting.

    Annie requested that Tony coordinate a departmental radiation
    safety training session for Physics.  The session will be held
    on a Tuesday during the noon hour. 
     

2)  TRAINING OF DINING SERVICES STAFF
    Per Debra, dining services management staff are Sodexho-Marriott
    employees.  Most other dining services staff, a maximum of 45, 
    are HMC employees. These HMC staff members are to attend the
    Basic Safety Courses provided by the Employee Safety Committee.
    Per Chris Broome, the dining services management staff will 
    review the other safety courses offered, and determine what other
    HMC sessions dining services staff should attend. 
   
    Chris Broome stated that because of their unique environment
    on campus, HMC Dining Services will also have a safety committee
    emphasizing issues specific to this department. He said that in 
    the future, Ramona Campoy will probably be the HMC Employee 
    Safety Committee representative from dining services.   
  

3)  WEBSITE 
    Lillian reported that the website has been updated to reflect
    the name change of the HMC "Employee" Safety Committee.  All 
    meeting minutes have been posted, and background color has 
    been changed from gray/marble to white. 

    Lillian would like to add color to the Safety Wally logo. 
    She will contact the Office of College Relations to obtain the 
    original Safety Wally print.  Tony has volunteered to scan and
    color the logo using a "Paint Shop" program. 

    
4)  REVIEW OF CLINIC PROJECTS
    Information outlining all Departmental clinic projects will 
    be forwarded to Tony for review and comment relative to 
    Cal-OSHA and EPA regulations. 


5)  CALIFORNIA CAMPUS EH&S ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
    In August, Annie and Elaine attended the conference at UCLA.  
    The conference focused on campus safety issues and resources. 
    Martha McDougall, Director of EH&S at UC San Diego, spoke on
    safety mannagement methods used for labs on the campus.

    At the conference, Annie shared information about the HMC 
    Employee Safety Committee website, and the link that is 
    available to the CUC EH&S Safety Training webpage.  Her 
    information was very well received.

    Annie shared the safety booklet,"Resource Guide for New 
    Investigators", that was distributed at the conference.  Debra 
    said that a similar booklet is now being included in the packet
    for new faculty at HMC.
    

6)  OPEN DISCUSSION

    A.  Kim May, Chair of the Emergency Management Committee, has
        expressed the need for good communication between the 
        EMT (Emergency Management Team) and the Employee Safety 
        Committee.  She will, therefore, become a permanent member
        of the HMC Employee Safety Committee.    

    B.  Per Annie, three people attended the July session for 
        renewal of their CPR & First Aid license.  Next year's
        session will be open to the public.

    C.  Facilities & Maintenance Department is working on a
        manual override procedure for the building ventilation 
        systems.  Per Tony, the fume hoods are used in lieu of 
        PPE (personal protestion equipment).  If the fume hoods 
        are turned off, a "time of recirculation after manual 
        reactivation" must be determined in order to assure a safe
        reentry into the building. 

    D.  Tony shared information obtained at the all-campus Safety
        Meeting.  Relative to insurance, the colleges, as a combined
        group, are now on a "low sensitive plan." It is, therefore,
        very important that we remain pro-active, and continue 
        to utilize safety training and methods for accident
        prevention and mitigation. 

    E.  Several committee members mentioned the difficulties they
        have encountered in receiving large, heavy, bulky deliveries.
        Because there is presently no campus-wide protocol for 
        material handling, Facilities and Maintenance staff have 
        often been contacted, on very short notice, for assistance.  
        In the interests of safety, there is definitely a need for 
        such a protocol.  After some discussion, this issue was 
        tabled until the next meeting. 

    F.  The Committee discussed the high cost of jobs done by 
        Physical Plant, relative to the much lower cost of outside
        contractors.  Cost effectiveness is of utmost importance
        to all HMC Departments.  Perhaps the HMC Business Affairs 
        Office or the CUC Office of Risk Management might be of 
        assistance concerning ways of dealing with this discrepancy.
        This issue was tabled until the next meeting.

    G.  After some discussion, the meeting time was changed to 
        the third Friday of the month, at 11:00 am.


7)  Next meeting will be:  Friday, November 17, 2000, at 11:00 am
    in the Physics Conference Room, 1230 Keck.




A computer record and a hard copy of this report will be kept in 
Lillian McCollum's office (2310 Jacobs).
  
If you would like a hard copy, send your request to Annie Atiyeh 
at annie_atiyeh@hmc.edu