Sanitizing Your Playground Equipment During COVID-19

On March 27th 2020, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced the “Stay-at-Home Emergency Executive Order” during the COVID-19 pandemic, which acknowledges the decision to close playgrounds is for each local jurisdiction. This event made many cities wonder what to do if they decide to keep them open and how to sanitize playground equipment.

Studies from the National Institute of Health (NIH) have shown the Coronavirus can live up to 2-3 days on plastics and metal. While cleaning, frequent washing of hands, and not touching faces may help keep most people safe, children play on equipment with their whole bodies, including their faces. The risk of the spread of the virus is increased. Completely closing playgrounds is a difficult task. Some cities are choosing to post signs with messaging that the equipment is not sanitized, or playground is closed, and some are fencing the area.

If cities do allow playgrounds to remain open, it is recommended that they follow the CDC’s guidance on the cleaning of facilities and surfaces, as the best practice. For playground equipment, the CDC suggests:

• If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
• For disinfection, most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective.
• A list of products that are EPA-approved for use against the virus that causes COVID-19 is available here. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for all cleaning and disinfection products for concentration, application method and contact time, etc.
• Additionally, diluted household bleach solutions (at least 1000ppm sodium hypochlorite) can be used if appropriate for the surface. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for application, ensuring a contact time of at least 1 minute, and allowing proper ventilation during and after application. Check to ensure the product is not past its expiration date. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. Unexpired household bleach will be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted.
• Prepare a bleach solution by mixing:
• 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) bleach per gallon of water or
• 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water

City employees also need to ensure their own safety and comply with OSHA’s standard of Bloodborne Pathogens by wearing the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while cleaning, including the handling of trash.

 Submitted by: Julie Jelen, Loss Control Consultant

Simple ergonomic tips for working from home

Working from home can be a pain in the neck, but it doesn’t have to be. Preventing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) exposure at home is just as important as working in the office. MSDs are soft-tissue injuries caused by sudden or sustained exposure to repetitive motion, force, vibration, and awkward positions. These disorders can affect the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, and cartilage in your upper and lower limbs, neck and lower back.

Reality is, working from home may be temporary and you don’t have an allocated office space in your home. Even if working from a kitchen table and chair or couch there are cheap and creative ways that you can use to set up your workstation to stay comfortable and prevent injury. For example:

• Use a good chair if possible. If you don’t have a good chair, add pillows or rolled towels for back/leg support.
• Raise your chair as most kitchen tables and desks are too high. Use a pillow or seat cushion if needed.
• Raise your monitor by using boxes, books, bricks, cans of soup, etc.
• Support your feet on books, a shoe box, etc., if they don’t firmly touch the ground while sitting.
• Use an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor if possible. This helps prevent bending your neck and looking down. The top of the monitor should be at or just below eye level, shoulders relaxed, elbows and knees at a 90-degree angle.
• Take breaks. Set a timer every 60 minutes to get up and walk around.

Here are tips from an ergonomics expert on how to set up your desk. The Mayo Clinic also has a how-to guide to help ensure your home office area is set up correctly.

Here is a webinar from the Vermont League of Cities & Towns on Remote Working Best Practices.

If you are a FirstNet Safety Training user, there’s online ergonomic training to select for your employees. LMCIT also has an alliance with CoastalFlix, a new, no-cost way to bring safety training videos for our members. There are many short ergonomic streaming videos to select from.

Submitted by: Julie Jelen, Loss Control Consultant

COVID-19 and Public Restrooms

Cities should consider the following when determining to keep public restrooms open. When public restrooms remain open, they encourage park use. With increased park use, social distancing may be more difficult to achieve.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources came out with a COVID-19 response which includes public restrooms information. “The bathrooms, shower buildings and vault toilets that are already open for the season will remain open. Most park bathrooms with running water are still closed for the season and will remain closed.” This could be an option for Cities. Keeping certain public restrooms closed will help staff focus on additional sanitation and cleaning measures.

Cities could consider keeping the restrooms open that have the heaviest traffic. If Cities were to keep the restrooms open that do not have as much traffic, vandalism may occur at the restrooms.

Another consideration to think about is keeping toilet paper, sanitizer and soap in the restrooms could be more susceptible to disappearing, because of the shortage. Therefore, limiting the amount of supplies in the restrooms is a good idea.

If a City decides to keep public restrooms open, consider posting signs at entrance points to the restrooms on preventative measures.

Submitted by: Kate Connell, Loss Control Consultant

Sanitary Sewer – COVID-19 and potential for increased sewer back-ups

With the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, a problem is starting to emerge that not many could see coming – a shortage of toilet paper in stores across the nation.  When an individual runs out of toilet paper and can’t buy any more, trying to find safe alternatives to use can be difficult. Most of the options people turn to will most likely clog their own toilet and lines but can also create additional issues for the city.  The public may not view this as a big deal to use something else, but this is risking a potential problem for an increase in sewer back-up claim activity and an additional strain on city resources.

Some examples of things people may turn to that are NOT safe to be flushed down a toilet include:

• Kleenex/facial tissue – does not break down in water the same as toilet paper and SHOULDN’T be flushed
• Paper towels 
• Napkins
• Rags/cloths
• Woven fabric
• Dryer sheets
• Disinfecting wipes
• Baby wipes

This is a great time to also remind everyone of your city's F.O.G. (fats, oils and grease) program and emphasize just how important it is during these trying times what should and shouldn’t be disposed of in a sanitary sewer system.  If your city does not have this information on their website, this would be a most opportune time to get this reminder message out to the community.  Mailings and social media are additional sources of getting this information out to your residents. See pages 16 & 17 of the LMCIT Sanitary Sewer Toolkit to help guide you in these efforts.

Submitted by:  Michael Neff, Loss Control Consultant

COVID-19 — reminder that any incidents of employees contracting the Novel Coronavirus at work are recordable illnesses

UPDATE:  Nov. 21, 2022, MNOSHA adopts permanent recordkeeping, reporting standards for COVID-19

This rule adoption incorporates by reference paragraphs of the health care ETS that include the recordkeeping requirements for a COVID-19 log. This requires covered employers with more than 10 employees to record COVID-19 cases of their employees on their COVID-19 log if a worker is infected by COVID-19, regardless of whether the instance is connected to exposure at work.

This rule adoption also requires covered employers to report to MNOSHA each work-related COVID-19 fatality within eight hours of the employer learning about the fatality, and each work-related in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours of the employer learning about the hospitalization, regardless of when the fatality or hospitalization occurred.

An employee who has had contact with someone who has or may have COVID-19 is not the same as the employee contracting the disease. The actual first report of injury should only be filed if an employee tests positive for the disease as a result of performing their work-related duties. While OSHA specifically exempts employers from reporting common colds or flu in the workplace, COVID-19 is not exempt. Visit OSHA's Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements page for more information.

There is no specific OSHA standard covering COVID-19. However, some OSHA requirements may apply to preventing occupational hazard to COVID-19. The General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970) may apply. The statute requires employers to ensure on-the-job conditions are free of serious hazards that can cause death, illness, or injury. The bloodborne pathogens and personal protective equipment (PPE) standards also apply in certain circumstances.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also advises employers to develop an infectious disease preparedness and response plan, implement basic infection prevention measures and develop policies for the identification and isolation of ill individuals.

Resources from MNOSHA Compliance Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19):

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Coronavirus disease 2019
• Federal OSHA: COVID-19
• Minnesota Department of Health: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Submitted by: Julie Jelen, Loss Control Consultant