Health and Safety
At MSD wastewater facilities and on project sites, the health and safety of our personnel and the community are paramount. Community safety issues, such as potential chemical releases, are covered under MSD’s emergency response plans, which are prepared specifically for each MSD division. MSD operates under a Health and Safety policy that has been in place since 1982 and which is periodically updated. The policy was established to ensure that MSD complies with applicable local, state, and federal health and safety regulations.
In 2009, the reported injuries consisted of pulled muscles, strains, sprains, cuts, chemical exposure, insect bites, fractures, bruises, contusions, and burns.
MSD 2009 Health and Safety Performance
Health and Safety Indicators | Target Performance | 2009 Performance |
---|---|---|
Incidence Ratea | less than 8.1b | 7.3c |
Fatalities | 0 | 0 |
Lost Days | In development | 263.02 |
Hours of Health and Safety Training per yeard (total) Hours of Health and Safety Training per year, per employee |
In development | 4,092 6.62 |
|
MSD’s Health & Safety team has overall responsibility for safe work practices by MSD employees and contractors working on MSD projects. The team ensures that policies are up to date, and it conducts audits and inspections of construction sites, collection facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, and CSO and SSO structures. The team reviews site safety plans and emergency response plans, manages security contractors, and investigates workplace accidents and incidents of workplace violence. Four divisional safety teams review accidents and injuries and assist with divisional safety issues, including making recommendations to division superintendents. The team also supports the divisional supervisors in providing employee training, personal protective equipment (PPE), and accident and injury reporting. Furthermore, the Health & Safety team encourages employee involvement in decisions that affect their health and safety, such as inspections and hazard analysis, revising safe work rules, training, or assisting in accident investigations, and plant inspections.
MSD’s Health & Safety team coordinates with City of Cincinnati, as follows:
- Chemical Emergency Response Team – A joint team run by the City of Cincinnati’s Fire and Health Departments. MSD may be called out to assist with chemical emergencies as the need arises.
- CHASE (Combined Heath & Safety Effort) Committee – a City-wide health and safety effort that ensures there is an effective feedback loop between the Department’s Labor/Management Committee and the members of the CHASE Committee.
We emphasize both “upstream” and “downstream” metrics to assess the effectiveness of our health and safety program. Upstream efforts focus on prevention, and they include a wide array of health and safety training opportunities; easy access to online training calendars, checklists and guidelines; and extensive communications to employees through newsletters, and seasonal health and safety bulletins. Our upstream metrics, therefore, focus on health and safety training. In contrast, downstream metrics consist of injury rates, incidences of fatalities, and lost days. These metrics reflect how effective our training efforts are. In both cases, we reference our performance to industry standards.