Winter Safety Tips

Although MMA Risk Management Services (RMS) staff can’t keep the snow from flying, they can help prevent people from slipping on snow and ice.  This week, Dan Whitter, RMS’s Loss Control Manager, joins Rebecca Lambert and Amanda Campbell to share practical tips for avoiding slips, trips and falls.  He also outlines the steps municipalities can take to ensure their facilities, equipment, and staff remain safe throughout the winter season. In addition, Dan discusses the grant programs available to members enrolled in RMS programs—the Ed MacDonald Safety Enhancement Grant and Risk Reduction Grant—designed to keep staff and equipment safe from harm and costly damage.  

Transcript

Welcome everyone to Potholes & Politics, Local Maine Issues from A to Z. I'm your co-host Rebecca Lambert, and with me as always is my amazing colleague, Amanda Campbell. Hey, Amanda. 

Good morning, Rebecca. Thanks everybody for listening. 

Yes, thanks for listening. On our last episode, we talked with Nick Cloutier, who's a member of the Property Tax Relief Task Force and is the assessor for the Town of Scarborough. We discussed the most recent meetings of the task force and Nick shared his insights on the potential recommendations that may come from this group. It certainly is worth going back to give it a listen if you've missed that one. And while you're there, please consider liking and subscribing to our podcast.

Right, Rebecca. And this week we are going to talk to Dan Whittier, who is the loss control manager with MMA in the risk management services department, who will be talking about winter safety and how municipalities can keep employees safe and operations running through the cold months, which seem to have arrived early for us.

Hi Dan. Thanks so much for joining us and can you introduce yourself a little bit to our listeners?  

Hi everyone. I am the loss control manager for MMA Risk Management Services. As we head into another Maine winter, we all know what's coming. Snow, ice, freezing rain, and some unpredictable weather. With that comes a lot of challenges for our public works crews, school departments, fire and police stations, and every employee who's out there keeping things running for their community.

Today, I want share a few practical tips and reminders, simple things that make a big difference when it comes to preventing injuries and property damage. None of this is complicated, but it does take some planning and awareness. 

Yeah. We all know that the number one type of injury seen in the winter are slips, trips, and falls. Can you talk a little about this type of injury and what our members can do to help prevent them? 

Absolutely. The biggest thing with slip, trips, and fall is to slow down and think about your surroundings. A few easy habits to get into is take small, careful, deliberate steps and stay alert to changing surfaces when you're transitioning from a rug to another type of surface.

Going from ice to tar and back to ice can be difficult. Use handrails or other supporting features whenever possible to help steady you, wear proper footwear for the conditions.

Use ice cleats if, appropriate for your needs. But do remember that ice cleats on normal flooring inside of a building can be just as slippery as ice can be on the outside. Avoid shortcuts or doors that might not be cleaned after a winter storm. One of the things we get into in some of our school departments is, it's a limited amount of people cleaning the facility. So, they're very good at maintaining the main entrance and keeping that open. But if a person uses the side entrance that's not regularly cleaned during a snow event, that might not be a good access point for the employee.

When we get inside of a building, we wanna make sure the entryways are protected. We recommend at least 20 feet of absorbent matting inside doors and have someone check and change those mats often during storms.

Public works and facilities teams should always have a clear snow and sanding plan. Who's responsible for what, and what areas get priority and how those conditions are monitored. Keep sand or salt containers near entrances so employees can take quick action if they see a slick spot.

At the end of the day, we can't stop the snow from flying, but we can stop people from falling on the snow and ice. 

That's really great information. And preparing for winter safety isn't just limited to our personal protection, but we can also ready our buildings for the winter climate. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yes, so winter is gonna happen every year. Snow and ice is gonna happen every year in the state of Maine. So what we always recommend is before the snow flies, do a walkthrough of your facilities and check a few critical things. Have the heating system serviced, drain low points on dry sprinkler systems and insulate exposed piping, clear roof drains and debris, inspect the roof for sags, cracks or other signs of stress that might be amplified with a snow load over the winter season.

Remember, every roof is designed to handle a certain amount of that snow load in Maine. Depending on where you are, that can range from 50 to a hundred pounds per square foot. Once you've added equipment to that roof, or you have an older roof that was built before modern codes, it's a good idea to have an engineer confirm that they can still handle the additional snow load as things progress in the winter.

Watch for warning signs, bowing walls, sagging trusses, or creaking sounds and if you see any kind of movement, get out and have it checked immediately. If municipal staff are removing snow from roofs, make sure that you have had the fall protection training required and that you've documented a proper fall protection plan. If you're utilizing a third-party contractor, ask for a certificate of insurance that lists the town as an additional insured. A little attention early on in the season can prevent a serious loss later on. 

So, we've talked about slips, trips and falls, and how to ready our buildings for the winter season.  But during every winter in Maine, it's inevitable that our members are going to face a snowstorm. Do you have any safety tips when it comes to removing the snow?

Yeah, so snow removal is a tough physical job, whether you're plowing the snow, snow blowing, or shoveling it by hand. For snowplow operators, we wanna make sure that they drive their route before the first snowstorm to flag any hazards such as a low curb or other protrusions that might stick out into the roadway.

One of our big areas of concern is telephone poles or other types of guy wires that the extended wing in the plow may hit.  You also wanna make sure that you inspect your vehicle before every shift. And that's really pre-use. Some shifts, you may start earlier in the day and then you may go home and rest and may come back.

We still recommend having a pre-use inspection. These are pretty straightforward. You want to check, make sure that all your lights are working, your tires are suitable, brakes are functioning and chains, if or needed, are installed. And the biggest thing is, make sure anytime you do these checks, you're documenting it.

Fatigue has been proven to be a major risk factor for us. So whenever possible we recommend taking short breaks, staying hydrated, and, make sure you stop and eat a good meal and keep the person behind the wheel energized and ready to respond to the winter conditions. When utilizing a snowblower, most injuries happen when someone tries to clear a clog, with their hands or some other appendant sticking it into an auger.

Make sure that you always shut the machine down fully and then try to use a stick or some other auger cleaning device, instead of your hand whenever possible. For shoveling, remember that it's a full body workout. Do what you can to stretch first. Always push the snow instead of lifting it up. And if you have to throw snow, lift with your legs and turn your whole body rather than just twisting your back. Work at a steady even pace, take breaks and don't wait until the storm is over. Shoveling multiple times during a storm is actually better and safer for the operator. 

And so, as we know, and most recently, with the snow comes the cold temperatures. How can members prepare for dealing with frigid outdoor conditions?

When temperatures drop and the wind picks up the risk of frostbite and hypothermia rises quickly. Train your crews to recognize the signs - shivering, confusion, numbness. Those are the early warning signs to look for. Always dress in layers. Cover the head and hands, and keep your clothing as dry as possible.

Keep an extra set of clothing if needed at the station or facility that you're based out of.  So, we encourage that the employees take frequent breaks and enjoy some sort of warm drink, tea, coffee, things like that. But be mindful of the amount of caffeine that you're ingesting. You don't want to overdo it, which could cause jitters and kind of actually decrease cognitive abilities when you're out there.

The National Weather Service often issues a windchill warning when it drops below negative 24 degrees Fahrenheit. So if you see that level in the forecast, it's time to modify your work schedule and bring people inside more frequently. Plan accordingly. 

So, Dan, the risk management department offers two great grant programs for our members if they're enrolled in either the property and casualty pool or the workers' comp program. We will include links for the Ed McDonald Safety Grant Program and the Risk Reduction Grant Program in our transcript. But could you give our members a brief overview of how those grants work and what types of programs or products our members could use those grant funds for?

Absolutely. Yes. The Ed McDonald Safety Enhancement Grant is for members that participate in our workers' compensation pool. The deadline for application is April 15th of every year, and the awards are given out in May of every year. That is a hundred percent funded grant. There's no match required by our members, and it's up to a $3,000 maximum.

The root goal of that particular grant is to provide additional resources for our members to implement good workplace safety practices and whatnot. So, a lot of times that might be high visibility vests or other types of signaling devices that be used in the roadway, let's say for a police staff working out in the roadway in inclement weather.

The other grant is the Risk Reduction Grant, which is for members of our property and casualty pool. Much like the Ed McDonald Safety Enhancement Grant, it's a $3,000 maximum. With no match requirement for our members. However, that one's a little bit different. It is more geared towards the facilities and liability-based exposure.

So, some of our members have utilized it for security cameras, things like that. Tying it back to the winter theme, some of our members have actually used it for plow tip position sensors so they know where the wing of their plow is when they're operating it. And the big use that we've seen in the few years past is retrofitting older vehicles, like large plow trucks to have backup cameras and things like that so they can see hazards before they, they run into them, unfortunately.

We've actually funded a few heated walkways, like a few mats that we put out that are electric that actually melt away the snow for people entering or exiting a building.  

And, when I was a town administrator, we used both of these grant programs to get safety vests for our fire department for when they're working out on the road, moving traffic and, ice grips for feet. We had some accidents happen on scene and, to prevent that in the future, we got ice grips for our entire department. 

That's another kind of pilot program that we've been running. We actually offer, they're called K1 Midsole Ice Cleats, to any member that's in our workers' compensation fund.

We'll actually provide up to 20 pairs per member that they can utilize however they see fit. The benefit of these particular ice cleats is their midsole. So, the user still has function of their toe and heel, which has paid big dividends with our police and fire/EMS users, because they're getting in and out of vehicles and you don't want to be using ice cleats when you're operating, a vehicle like that. So. 

These were some really great tips as we're getting into the winter season, and a smart reminder to take a few minutes to check your facilities, refresh your staff training and review your snow and ice plans with just a little preparation we can help keep everyone safe in our communities running smoothly.

Thank you, Dan, for joining us today and sharing these amazing tips with our members. 

Yes. Thank you very much, Dan, for joining us, and we'll get all of that information about the safety grants into our transcript.

Thank you.

RMS Grants & Scholarships
https://www.memun.org/Risk-Management/Grants-Scholarships 

All risk management materials are password protected. If you can access the MMA website but not specific RMS materials, please contact rmslosscontrol@memun.org or resourcecenter@memun.org to manage your account.