Safety Committee
President’s Conference Room
November 21, 2002
11 a.m.
Those present were: guest speaker, Ron Kress; Eirk Bitterbaum, Bill Brown, Dave Cunningham, Sheryl Elder, Charlene McNulty, Lennie Moore, Cathy Mutz, Craig Rabatin, and Gary Waggoner. Absent were: Joe Badgley, Bill Douglas, Gene Dulaney, and Christine Post.
Meeting was opened by Erik Bitterbaum with a welcome to our guest speaker, Ron Kress from GE Plastics. The meeting was then turned over to Bill Brown who, in turn, gave the floor over to the guest speaker, Mr. Kress.
Mr. Kress noted that he had been asked to participate on our Safety Committee as a member. He has taught courses for our college and other colleges in the area and he is the Safety Specialist/ Security Team Lead for GE Plastics. He has had 30 years of experience in the field of safety and would be willing to assist our committee. He also noted that security at GE Plastics has increased since the event of 9/11. One example he shared was that an ID is now worn by all individuals working in the plant area.
President Bitterbaum stressed to Mr. Kress that WVU at Parkersburg would like to get the proper procedures in place to be prepared if any further events take place (such as 9/11). He feels our college is making progress, but are we where we want to be?
Mr. Kress pointed out one area of improvement for the college. Since he has taught on the weekends here, he has experienced the need to find college personnel during weekend and evening hours.
Bill Brown opened the floor to suggestions/comments on the first draft of the WVUP Safety Procedure manual.
President Bitterbaum – place list of emergency numbers (key numbers for notification) on front of the inside flap.
Charlene McNulty – are enough cells phones in use for key people? (It was noted that cell phones do not even work under certain emergency conditions. Two-way radios may be a good option for communication. (Guest speaker noted 2 way radios plus inside and outside telephone lines are GE’s communication set-up.)
Guest speaker also suggested good communication set-up between college and FBI/State Police. Erik noted that Dave Cunningham has been working to establish lines of communication with Wood County
Emergency Services. According to Dave Cunningham the college was not a part of these state wide services since we supply our own security personnel but recently we have been building bridges with those state-wide services. (Thus far we have concentrated more on the expected emergencies rather than the catastophic emergencies.
President Bitterbaum suggested that fire drills be practiced at least one a semester even though this is not required by the current code regulations.
Cathy Mutz felt that keeping good lines of communication open were most important and she stated that practical hands on learning techniques were the most effective for making sure we are prepared for any emergencies that may occur.
Craig Rabatin suggested possibly renaming the safety manual to WVUP Emergency Procedures.
Gary Waggoner questioned where the faculty’s responsibility ends? Dave Cunningham stated that since we are dealing with adult students our responsibilities are not the same as those mandated for K through 12.We can only make recommendations to the students (e.g not to leave campus).
Head counts and a sweep of the campus were suggested by Mr. Kress. Dave Cunningham stated that the sweep technique is a part of our current emergency procedures but that a head count would present a problem.
Direct emergency phone at switchboard was another suggestion.
Dave Cunningham stated that implementation is critical with communication being the feature for success. We have improved in the communication area and will continue to change and improve areas (e.g. information for part-time teaching staff).
Charlene McNulty will set up a meeting with the nursing personnel to go over current emergency procedures and see what areas need to be improved/practiced/ or outlined.
Speaker Ron Kress suggested that the mail room area could be an area for improvement. He has some current information from GE’s mail room procedures that he will forward to the committee. He also shared with the committee a form that is used for incident investigations (3 part form). Part one of form is to be completed within 24 hours of an emergency, part two within seven days and part three is completed when the incident has completed closure.
Mr. Kress also added areas that GE improved (e.g. fencing, TV cameras, badges). Dave Cunningham stated that employee ID might be useful in some circumstances (e.g adjunct faculty).
In conclusion, Bill Brown asked the committee to review the notes presented by Mary Lott, Night Director in order to discuss these issues at the next meeting. Mr. Brown also asked Cathy Mutz to share her power point information from WASP during our January meeting. The next meeting will be the second week of January classes.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheryl Elder