Free Webinar—Partnering for Successful Downtown Street Reconstruction Projects

You see it in your work every day: the infrastructure in our cities is aging. From streets to water and sewer to utilities, these services are crucial to residents—but maintenance and repairs can be very complex and expensive. So what is a city to do?

We have some ideas for practices and tools that can help you successfully complete these important upgrades! Join us for a free online briefing from 1-2 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28. You’ll hear firsthand how one Minnesota community recently formed effective partnerships (with MnDOT and others) to complete a downtown street reconstruction project.

They will share the benefits of this project to their community, as well as the lessons they learned. You’ll also hear about options to finance these kind of upgrades and determine whether a study could help pinpoint your city’s specific needs.

To learn more and register for this free webinar, visit www.lmc.org/streetswebinar16blog

 

By: League of Minnesota Cities

Minnesota LTAP Fall Maintenance Expo

The Fall Maintenance Expo is a two day event for city, county, and state maintenance employees and supervisors focused on fall and winter transportation maintenance issues. The Event includes vendors and presenters showing new equipment and sharing useful information, as well as the annual snowplow “Roadeo”.

The Expo costs $25 and is at the St. Cloud Public Works Facility on October 5-6. Attendees are eligible for 1.0 elective credit for the Roads Scholar Program.

For more information, or to register go to the LTAP website

http://www.mnltap.umn.edu/training/fallexpo/index.html

Or the Fall Maintenance Expo Website:

http://www.mnfallexpo.com/

By: LMCIT Loss Control

Falls to a Lower Level

Slips, trips, and falls are consistently one of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ top rated causes of workplace injury across the country. Recently MN OSHA’s Brian Zaidman published an article in the July Issue of their Safety Lines Newsletter (page 7) outlining the statistics for “falls to a lower level”.

Due to the nature of the reporting, the numbers being used are from 2014, but they show that falls to a lower level are on the rise. That means it’s time to review best practices for working from heights with everyone in your shop. Maybe list all the tasks you perform that would require someone to work from an elevated height. Some of the key safety requirements to remember when it comes to fall protection are:

·       Fall protection is required for all heights at or above 4ft from the ground. This doesn’t seem very high, but if you fall the wrong way from this height, it is still enough to break a bone or cause a serious injury.

·       Fall Protection is required when working around unprotected edges of open sided floor,  platforms, and runways greater than 4 feet above the floor or lower level.

·       Fall protection is required along the side of dangerous hazards such as vats, tanks, and dangerous equipment or similar hazard regardless of height where a worker could fall in to the hazard.

 

Another interesting breakdown from the article is the occupational groups with the highest estimated rate of injury from falls to a lower level. As you can see in Figure 3 from the article, the highest rates belong to workers who are performing: construction and extraction; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance and repair. These are all things where public works’ employees may find themselves involved, so be extra cautious and make sure you are being safe while working from heights.

 

If you have any questions regarding working from heights, or need assistance in finding a way to do so safely, feel free to give your Loss Control Consultant a call - they will be happy to help!

By: Cody Tuttle, Loss Control Representative