CCCSIG Link
Health and Safety Services Department Update
NEW Programs for 2008/09:
- Introducing the 2008/09 District Health & Safety Incentive Program!
- Establish and submit IIPP to CCCSIG - AND - supervisors to
complete and email/fax CCCSIG the new Employee Accident
Investigation Form or similar form for at least 75% of all reported
incidents.
- At least 75% of custodians, M&O, grounds and warehouse to attend
2008 Summer Program (supervisors must be present).
- Classified supervisors of Food Service, Custodial, M&O, Grounds and
Transportation to attend 1-Day Leadership Development Training on
October 22nd from 9am-4pm at CCCSIG. There will be no make-up day.
- Establish an Employee Health and Safety Committee - AND -
complete and submit to CCCSIG the Health and Safety Committee
Policy Statement by 10/31/08.
- Conduct Slip, Trip, Fall Site Inspections at 100% of sites by 1/1/09
- Food Service manager to complete a job safety analysis on
one lifting or slip/trip/fall-related high risk task using CCCSIG form (if
district does not have food service, then will choose a different
high risk occupation).
- Distribute Crossroads monthly newsletter to all-staff at least ten out of
twelve months of the year.
- Attend all three Countywide H&S Committee Meetings at CCCSIG.
- Streaming Safety Videos from the CCCSIG Website!
In addition to providing districts with live, on-site health and safety training services, we will also be providing principals and managers with easy access to important safety/HR, school-specific streaming videos by Coastal directly from our website starting mid-July 2008.
To access, one only needs to visit the CCCSIG website and enter a password along with brief user information. Video titles will include:
- Bloodborne Pathogens: Real, Real Life for Schools
- Office Ergonomics: Safe in 8
- Safety Orientation for Schools; -great for new hires!
- Bullying Prevention
- Job Safety Analysis
- Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for Educators
- Heat Illness Prevention
- A trainer's guide will also be available for each digital file
Application: Managers can use these short, school-specific videos at the
beginning of staff meetings or call CCCSIG for a trainer.
AV Needs: Users will need to have Windows Media Player 9 or better (can
download for free), Internet access and speakers hooked up.
- 2008 Summer Training Program: Custodial, M&O/Grounds/Warehouse
- The schedule is filling up fast, so if you have not called and scheduled this year's Summer Health and Safety Training Program, do it soon! This year's program topics include:
- Work Smart: Investigate, Evaluate, Activate
- Keeping Your Knee Injury Free
- Healthy Eating On the Go
- Optional Blood Pressure Screening
- NEW Employee Accident Investigation Form for Supervisors
Cal OSHA requires supervisors to investigate all reported employee accidents and provide documentation of doing so, which is also stated in each District's Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
Next fiscal year, CCCSIG will be assisting Districts in complying with this requirement by including it in the 2008/09 District Health and Safety Incentive Program. In satisfying this new requirement, Districts will need to provide CCCSIG with an Employee Accident Investigation Form completed by a supervisor for at least 75% of total reported employee accidents by 6/30/09.
To make this process easier for Districts and eliminate redundancies with Company Nurse information, we have completed a new, more user- friendly form titled, "Employee Accident Investigation Form" that replaces the previous one titled, "Supervisor/Employee First Report of Injury....Form". The new form can be completed electronically, saved, and emailed OR printed and faxed to CCCSIG and the District Claims Coordinator.
Some districts may already have an employee accident investigation process and form in place. In this case, in order to satisfy the incentive program requirement, they would not need to use the attached form, rather, could use their own as long as CCCSIG receives copies of at least 75% of all reported employee accidents by 6/30/09.
Best Practice:
For every reported incident, District Claims Coordinator sends an email to the supervisor of the injured employee that includes either the new Employee Accident Investigation Form OR the old Supervisor/Employee First Report of Injury Form indicating that the form must be completed and emailed or faxed back to them in a specified timeframe. Once the District Claims Coordinator receives the completed form, he/she then emails or faxes it to CCCSIG.
- Cal OSHA Compliance Trainings 2008/09
- Be on the look out next fiscal year for these new and/or updated Cal OSHA mandatory trainings which CCCSIG will be providing:
- Hazardous Communications
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Bloodborne Pathogens
- Lockout/Tagout
- Heat Illness
- Asbestos Awareness
- IIPP Training
- Chemical Hygiene for Labs
- Fork Lift Training
- Choose to Move-4 Part Series of One-hour Workshops-NEW!
Instructor is a Fitness Expert with over 20yrs of experience in group fitness instruction
- Choose to Move Part 1: Aerobic Exercise
Participants explore the definition of and types of aerobic exercise, practice how and why to monitor their heart rate during aerobic exercise and participate in a mini-aerobics class with music.
- Choose to Move Part 2: Resistance Training
Participants learn the definition, benefits, types and importance of resistance (strength) training and participate in a mini-resistance training class experimenting with different tools that may be used to make their workouts more efficient (resistance tubes, therabands, free weights).
- Choose to Move Part 3: Flexibility
Participants learn the definition, benefits, types and importance of flexibility and participate in several different exercise formats that incorporate stretching (static stretching, yoga, Pilates).
- Choose to Move Part 4: Balance & Stability:
Participants learn the definition, benefits, types and importance of dynamic and static balance, why balance deteriorates with age and how to prevent it. 30-min of class is spent practicing balance exercises.
- Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Training for Special Ed Instructional Assistants:
Participants learn how to identify behaviors that could lead to a crisis, how to most effectively respond to each behavior to prevent the situation from escalating, how to use verbal and nonverbal techniques to defuse hostile behavior and resolve a crisis before it becomes violent. Restraining techniques are not covered in this course. (Instructor for this course is Crisis Prevention Instructor-certified.)
Special Education Instructional Assistants are invited to attend this 1-day professional development training at CCCSIG on the following dates:
September 16, 2008 from 9:00am to 4:00pm
January 26, 2009 from 9:00am to 4:00pm
April 10, 2009 from 9:00am to 4:00pm
Please contact Steve Webber at 1-866-922-2744 ext.273 or swebber@cccsig.org for more information
Want to Prevent Slip, Trip and Fall Injuries in 2008? Schedule a 20-min
Safe Work Practices Training for Fall Institute Day in 2008!
The objective of this short training is to raise awareness of the top three
incident types in your District and Countywide, while also providing tips on
how to prevent them. Please contact your CCCSIG HS Representative to
learn more and/or to schedule this training.
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Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit Bill Passes Committee
The Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee approved a bill, opposed by insurers and employers, that proponents say is needed to speed up supplemental job displacement benefits.
SB 1189 by Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, is essentially the same supplemental job displacement bill vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, according to Cedillo's office.
That bill, AB 1636, offered faster delivery of job displacement checks of up to $10,000. Vouchers for supplemental job displacement benefits would be distributed within 74 days of the termination of temporary disability benefits even if the permanent disability level has not yet been determined. It would be up to the claims administrators to estimate the level of permanent disability. Benefits ranged from $4,000 for ratings of less than 15% to $10,000 for ratings of more than 50%.
In his veto message last year, Schwarzenegger conceded timely access to job displacement benefit vouchers is a legitimate problem but he rejected the legislation as "vague" and said it would lead to unnecessary litigation.
According to a legislative analysis, Acclamation Insurance Management Services, the Association of California Insurance Companies, the California Association of Joint Power Authorities, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and the National Federation of Independent Business oppose SB 1189.
Voters Injured at Work, the California Applicants' Attorneys Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees lead a list of union and labor opponents.
Yuliana Mendez, a Cedillo aide, said the measure is offered as a vehicle to accommodate amendments later during the session that will make the legislation acceptable to the governor. She said Cedillo is participating in monthly meetings with stakeholders in an effort to work out the amendment language.
The committee voted 3-2 along party lines in favor of the bill. Democratic Chairwoman Carole Midgen and Sens. Sheila Kuehl and Alex Padilla voted for the measure. Republican Sens. Mark Wyland and Dick Ackerman were against the bill. SB 1189 now goes to the appropriations committee.
To read the bill, go here: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number
Source: WorkCompCentral
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Workers Compensation Audit
The State of California recently completed an audit of the CCCSIG's claims department.
Each California claims administrator must undergo a mandatory claims audit by the state every five years.
The audit is set against the standards, procedures, rules and regulations set forth by the Regulations and
Labor Code provisions for workers' compensation. The state's audit criteria is based on a series of components
ranging from the proper notice of activities to all interested parties to ensuring that any benefits payments to
injured workers were accurate and timely. A passing requires a score of 1.8 or below. CCCSIG's score was a .70;
well below the cutoff point. The next state audit will take place in 2013.
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California - Court: School Volunteer's Exclusive Remedy is Workers' Comp
The exclusive remedy provision of the workers' compensation act applies to a Granada High School volunteer who fell and fractured her ankle, an appellate court ruled.
The California 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that volunteer Michelle Salazar's exclusive remedy was the workers' compensation system in Salazar v. Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District, No. A116635, 3/4/08.
The case originates from Salazar's fall near the high school's band room in November 2005, which resulted in a fractured ankle and back injury. She sued the school district, but a trial court ruled that as a volunteer, she qualified as an "employee" under the definition of workers' compensation law, thus meaning that her sole remedy was the workers' compensation system.
Salazar appealed, arguing that the school district "did not comply with the requirements of (Labor Code) section 3364.5 because it did not contain a list of the specific volunteers entitled to workers' compensation coverage."
The appellate court disagreed, with the assenting justice explaining:
"We conclude that the trial court correctly ruled that section 3364.5 does not require that the resolution a school district passes to deem volunteers employees of the district for purposes of entitlement to workers' compensation benefits contain a list of the specific volunteers entitled to such benefits. This conclusion is based, first, on the language of the statute, taking into account the Legislature's mandate that the Act 'be liberally construed by the courts with the purpose of extending [its] benefits for the protection of persons injured in the course of their employment."
Source: WorkCompCentral
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Heat Illness
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM HEAT ILLNESS
In a one-year investigation of 25 cases of suspected heat-related illnesses, Cal/OSHA
found that more than half of the heat illness victims died, and almost one third of them required hospitalization. Heat illness can kill you. During hot weather you must take the simple steps outlined here to protect yourself. Heat illness can be one or more serious medical conditions like heat cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion and heatstroke. Heat illness occurs when your body keeps in more heat than it loses and your temperature rises. You are at greater risk of heat illness when you:
- Are dehydrated. Dehydration is your worst enemy during hot weather.
- Are not used to working in the heat.
- Are in poor health.
- Have had heat illness before.
Your two best defenses against the heat are:
- Getting out of the sun or finding a cool resting place when you are starting to overheat and need to cool down.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT HEAT ILLNESS
- Drinking cool, fresh water throughout the day (four 8-oz cups per hour) during hot weather. That is how much water your body loses just by sweating. Don't wait until you are thirsty to drink.
- Tell your supervisor immediately if you think you are getting sick from the heat.
- Know the location(s) of your closest drinking water supplies.
- Choose water over sodas and other drinks containing caffeine or sugar.
- You are better off avoiding alcoholaltogether. The more you drink, even beer, the more dehydrated you will get.
- Always know who and how to call for help when you start a new work day.
- Know the symptoms to watch for:
- discomfort, excessive sweating, headache, poor concentration, muscle pain, cramping, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, loss of coordination, throwing-up, blurry vision, confusion, lack of sweating, fainting, seizures.
- If you are new to working in the heat, tell your employer. Your employer should have procedures to allow you to adjust during your first two weeks of hot weather work.
- Get your doctor's advice if you know you have risk factors for heat illness, such as:
- illnesses like diabetes
- taking medications or over-the-counter drugs
- being on a low salt diet
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO
If you are working outdoors, by law, your employer must guarantee you all of the following:
- access to fresh, cool drinking water throughout the day.
- access to shade (all employees) or an equally cool spot (if you are not an agricultural worker) for 5 minutes at a time to rest and cool down.
- training on how to work safely in the heat, including how to call for emergency services if someone is overcome by the heat.
YOUR RIGHTS
- Keep track of your coworkers. You all need to watch out for each other. If anyone looks like they are not okay, check them out.
- After work take a cold bath or shower.
For more information, call 1-800-963-9424
Source: Department of Industrial Relations/Division of Occupational Safety & Health
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HB Link
Attention Blue Cross Subscribers - effective April 1, 2008, Blue Cross of California changed its name to Anthem Blue Cross.
The CCCSIG Health Benefit's Program is preparing to launch a new wellness feature for all member districts.
Each month, member district employees will receive an e-communication "Harmony for Health" containing a link
to the CCCSIG Health Benefits Program webpage - timely wellness topics such as Home Health, Depression, Women's
Health, Respiratory Diseases, Cancer and Nutrition along with provider service offerings for Anthem Blue Cross
and Kaiser Permanente subscribers will be just a click away. Goal - to enlighten and inspire members to THRIVE
WITH 360° OF EATING, SLEEPING & LIVING HEALTHY!
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