Klamath County Safety Committee Meeting April 12, 2018 Members Present: Members Not Present: Nathalie Johnston, Library Krista Perkins, HR, Risk Management & County Counsel Leslie Barlow-Hunter, HR, Risk Management & County Counsel Todd Pfeiffer, Public Works-Weed Control Kayla Wessel, Tax Office Sandy Cox, BOCC Dale Geigle, IT Rochelle Long, Clerk & Elections James McClure, Museum Jason Wright, Public Works-Roads April Cobb, CDD Tammy Kolii, Juvenile Daniel Coen, CDD Parks & Solid Waste Tom Banks, Maintenance Dee Dee Pope, Finance Sheila Froebe, Assessor s Office Rick Vaughn, Tax Office Eve Costello, DA Lisa Hill, Veterans Valeree Lane-Public Health Mike Markus, Surveyor Patti Harvey, Public Works-Weed Control Geneva Lewis, Mental Health/DD Rory Churchill, Community Corrections, Transition Center Dustin Renshaw, CDD Parks & Solid Waste Charles Jahnke, Fairgrounds Bill Gilmore, Great Basin Insurance Morgan Lindsay, Emergency Management Kevin Kennel, Sheriff s Office Vacant, Animal Control Rochelle Long called the meeting to order at 11:34 A.M. on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Minutes: The minutes were reviewed from the March 8, 2018 Safety Committee Meeting. Sandy Cox motioned to approve the minutes as read. Tammy Kolii seconded the motion. Motion carried. Introductions: Today the Safety Committee welcomed Eve Costello, District Attorney and Nathalie Johnston, Library Director. Page 1
New Accidents / Incidents Liability Claims: CC2018-07: Sheriff s Office-Patrol A Patrol Officer was clearing out their last call while fueling up the Patrol Vehicle. Once the call was cleared the Officer attempted to leave the gas pump while the pump was still connected to the vehicle, causing minor damage to the pump. 11: Preventable 0: Non-Preventable 0: No designation Pay attention to what you are doing. Safety Committee Review: Preventable. Closed. CC2018-10: CDD-Solid Waste/Parks A County Employee was traveling near the Klamath Ave. and S. 6 th St. intersection, when another driver ran a red light and T-Boned the County Vehicle on the right side. There were no injuries and the other driver was cited. 0: Preventable 11: Non-Preventable 0: No designation Recommendations: Non-Preventable. Safety Committee Review: Non-Preventable. Closed. CC2018-11: Sheriff s Office-Patrol While backing a patrol vehicle into their home garage, they struck the passenger mirror on the garage door frame causing the mirror to break. 11: Preventable 0: Non-Preventable 0: No designation Pay attention. Safety Committee Review: Preventable. Dee Dee Pope wants to know, why does everyone have to back up into their spots, when there seems to be many incidents from backing up. Leslie Barlow-Hunter stated due to the nature of their work, in this situation, they back in to be able to exit quicker if they receive an emergency call. She said that the BOCC is aware of some of the incidents and we are looking at some changes to the policy regarding driving for the County due to the amount of incidents/accidents that involve County Vehicles. Leslie also pointed out that in this circumstance, this incident did not cost the County any money but it is still 100% preventable. Closed. Page 2
CC2018-12: Public Works While leaving work and walking to Parking lot 3, a County Employee was being followed by a man who was hissing and growling at them. The Employee felt uneasy and did not want to go to their car since it is located in a corner and they did not want to get trapped. After the employee turned towards their parking space the man kept walking. You can t control the actions of others (ie: Hissing individual) The employee should have returned to the building and had someone escort them to their vehicle. Or called the police for assistance. Safety Committee Review: Leslie Barlow-Hunter stated this incident was not meant to be on the check off to be determined as preventable or non-preventable, only to serve as a reminder to walk in pairs and be alert when exiting the building to the parking lot, especially when it is dark. If you do see people loitering or doing something they shouldn t be doing, call 911 and the City Police will come by and check out the situation. Dee Dee Pope said she was watching an episode of Live PD and she thought that if you hold down the 9 button on your cell phone it will go straight to a dispatcher and they can hear everything that is going on. Leslie said she was unsure about holding the 9 key down but she knows that on several types of cell phones you can hold the power button down and an emergency prompt will pop-up to get quick access to 911. Krista Perkins stated that she was behind the County Employee walking when this incident happened and at the moment she made sure that she was holding her keys in one hand and cell phone in the other in anticipation something may happen. Once the employee turned to their car, the man kept walking to the street. Eve Costello wanted to point out that when DHS relocates to their new location on the water front, there will be more people using the County property as a through way and may be loitering. CC2018-13: Human Resources While leaving parking lot 3 for lunch an employee noticed 3 individuals in the far corner of the parking lot drinking. The employee called HR and asked them to call the employee who was park next to the individuals to warn them they were there. The employee returned from lunch and the 3 individuals were still there. While walking into the building the employee was stopped by several employees expressing concern about the 3 individuals and they notified the City Police. The employee should have called the City Police or have HR call them. You can t control the actions of others (ie: 3 individuals lingering) What do you do in this case? Gated parking? Were the police contacted when the employee first called HR? If not, why? No, the police were not called until the employee came back and the individuals were still there. Safety Committee Review: Again, Leslie Barlow-Hunter stated this incident was not meant to be on the check off to be determined as preventable or non-preventable, only to serve as a reminder to walk in pairs and be alert of your surroundings. It is also illegal to loiter and if you see someone or something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you can call the City Police and they will take care of the situation. Tom Banks said that in the past the committee has discussed using the Court Security Guard to make rounds around the down town Government Buildings and wanted to know if this is something we should discuss again. Leslie and Tom discussed having the down town Government Departments pitch in to help pay for the extra help. Sandy Cox said she would bring this up in the next Administration meeting which will be held later in the day. After the Administration meeting, Sandy Cox informed Leslie Barlow-Hunter that the Admin. Committee did not like the idea of spending money on extra security. Page 3
Workers Compensation Claims: No 801 Required or Submitted None 801 Required and Submitted WC2018-07: Sheriff s Office-Jail The Deputy was in a cell dealing with an inmate. When the Deputy went to exit the cell they fell to their knees and then all the way to the floor in a prone position. While the Deputy fell to the ground they exasperated a pre-existing knee injury. 6: Preventable 2: Non-Preventable 3: No designation What prompted the Deputy to fall? The Deputy started seeing black. Did the Deputy trip over something? No Was the floor wet? No Not enough information. Was the fall caused by the pre-existing condition? It sounds like the Deputy s safety was at risk. The Deputy started seeing black and decided to get out of the cell. When they did they knelt down to the ground and exasperated a pre-existing injury then ended up in the prone position. Safety Committee Review: Preventable. Leslie Barlow-Hunter said that this incident was not work related that caused him to fall but the employee did exasperate a work related injury when falling to their knees on the ground. The only medical attention they received was for the reason why they fell. Tom Banks said he was concerned why the employee saw black and Leslie told him that the physicians have that covered. Old Business None New Business Patty from SAIF will be here June 14 th to present Hazard ID and Accident Investigation Presentations. Leslie Barlow-Hunter stressed that it is very important that every department has at least one person from their department attend. This presentation will cover a lot of very important information. Other Business Todd Pfeiffer stated that he has been assigned to do weed surveys on the Oregon and California border where he has noticed several illegal marijuana grows and he feels very uncomfortable stepping foot on or around the property. Eve Costello said that this is something the Sheriff s Department should be aware of and check out since it is still illegal to grow commercially. Since it is still illegal, the people involved seem to be more dangerous. She said if Todd does have to go back down to that area he should check with the Sheriff s Department first and he can also have an Officer accompany him. Todd said there are other routes to the areas he needs to access but they are owned by Green Diamond and closed to the public. Sheila Froebe said that her husband works for Green Diamond and she can have him check to see if the County can get permission to use the property as a go through. Leslie Barlow-Hunter said that she agreed with Eve Costello s suggestion and if you have to go to these areas in question, to please contact the Sheriff s Office prior. Todd asked if there was a list/notification of suspicious areas where the County Employees should be more cautious or stay clear of. Eve said that if it is Page 4
an area that is considered off the grid, that everyone should just assume that there will be illegal grows and to stay clear of the area. Eve also stated that there are usually deputies assigned to these areas and they should be contacted before heading that way. Dee Dee Pope said that there was an incident the other day in which she witnessed a County Worker trimming bushes without hearing and eye protection and she has been very bothered by the fact that she herself didn t approached the employee. She states the last place she was employed she always had the right to approach an employee and mention they were involved in something she felt was unsafe for that employee. Dee Dee states that she went to Risk Management and felt like her concern was swept under the table. She feels as an employee that she or anyone else should never be afraid to approach another employee or a supervisor when they see someone doing something unsafe. Leslie Barlow-Hunter said that yes, it is different here on how we may approach situations like this. In our case we use a chain of command. In fact, Leslie was the one who Dee Dee contacted to discuss the unsafe practice and then Leslie contacted the Employee s supervisor immediately after being notified, to speak with the employee. Leslie said that yes, Dee Dee should be able to discuss unsafe actions with other employees but would not want to risk having an employee issue or create a hostile work environment and this could cause one. Eve Costello said as far as a legal stand point she agrees with Leslie. By an employee approaching another employee this could cause a hostile environment. Better to use the chain of command. Adjournment: Eve Costello motioned to adjourn the meeting at 12:09 P.M. and Lisa Hill seconded the motion. Motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 12:09 P.M. Page 5