Safety Audit final

Stephanie

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• Publié par: Undoi
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: English

Extrait

 

  EXECUTIVE SERVICE CORPS A Division of

        ZERO-BASED MANAGEMENT REVIEW       SAFETY AUDIT   OF   SAN DIEGO CITY DEPARTMENTS       PRESENTATION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE

     November 15, 2001     A Report by Nonprofit Management Solutions/Executive Service Corps

for the City Manager and City Council Select Committee for Government Efficiency and Fiscal Reform

 

  T ABLE O F C ONTENTS                      Page     Safety Survey Volunteers ..................................................................................... i       I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1  A. Background ........................................................................................... 1  B. Scope .................................................................................................... 2     II. FINDINGS ................................................................................................... 3   A. Safety Survey Results ........................................................................... 3  B. Safety Performance of City Departments .............................................. 7  C. Status of 1999 ZBMR Safety Recommendations ................................ 13      III. RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................ 15      IV. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 17       TABLES AND APPENDICES   TABLE I: Safety Organizations .......................................................................... 7 TABLE II: Injuries by Department ...................................................................... 9 TABLE III: 2001 Injury Rates ........................................................................... 10 TABLE IV : Total Industrial Leave Hours  .......................................................... 10 TABLE V: Work Compensation Costs  ............................................................. 11   APPENDIX A: ZBMR Safety Survey  ............................................................. A-1 APPENDIX B: Industrial Leave Hours By Department .................................. B-1      

 

S AFETY A UDIT OF S AN D IEGO C ITY D EPARTMENTS          S AFETY S URVEY V OLUNTEERS     Ten teams, consisting of Council District representatives of the San Diego City Council's Select Committee on Government Efficiency and Fiscal Reform, conducted a top level safety audit of ten San Diego City Departments during the August through October 2001 time frame. The departments reviewed and the team members who reviewed them are listed below:   C ITY D EPARTMENT   Development Services Engineering and Capitol Projects Environmental Services Fire And Life Safety Services General Services Metropolitan Waste Water Parks and Recreation Police ransportation ater

 S ELECT C OMMITTEE E VALUATOR (S) Burton Nestor (District 7) Doug Perkins (District 2) Gene Konrad (District 1) Derryl Williams (District 4) Michael Zucchet (District 6) George Saadeh (Mayor's Representative)  Chuck Spinks (District 5) Pamela L. Wilson (District 3) John Stump (District 4) Fred Hoyle (District 7) Steven Butler (District 1) Rod Fiori (District 2)

    PROJECT DIRECTOR: Linc Ward, Chair of Zero-Based Management Review (ZBMR) program.   VOLUNTEER CONSULTING SERVICES COORDINATOR: Art Zaras, Zero-Based Management Review project manager, Nonprofit Management Solutions/Executive Service Corps.

   

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INTRODUCTION   A. BACKGROUND   In March 1999 the ZBMR Group presented its evaluation report of the City  s Risk Management Department. This report included over 30 recommendations which focused on substantially improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that department and the City  s management of worker safety. Projected savings of implementing the ZBMR recommendations was estimated to be approximately $6 million per year .   At the request of the ZBMR Group, the Risk Management Department provided the Select Committee on Government Efficiency and Fiscal Reform an update on actions being initiated in response to the ZBMR recommendations. In this report presented on July 26, 2001, the Risk Management Department reported significant progress in improving the effectiveness of their operations. This included savings of over $1 million per year. The ZBMR Group applauds the progress to date on the part of the Risk Management Department. However, it was noted that progress to date has been primarily in the areas of reducing employee benefit  s costs and designing a state of the art computerized injury tracking and safety statistics reporting system (ITSS). The ZBMR team felt the progress report did not adequately cover the status of the 1999 ZBMR recommendations which were aimed at reducing the City  s employee accident rates. The 1999 ZBMR report identified improving the safety performance of the City  s operations as an area where major improvements needed to be made. The recommended improvements were projected to result in: • 20 30% reduction in injuries to City employees. -   • Substantial gains in efficiency and effectiveness of the City  s workforce as a result of reductions in labor hours lost to injuries.   • Approximately $3.5 million per year in savings resulting from reduced Workman Compensation costs incurred by the City. In order to determine the status of the 1999 ZBMR safety recommendations, the ZBMR Group recommended to the July 26, 2001 Select Committee  s meeting that a safety audit be conducted in those departments that contain the majority of the City  s employees. This proposal was approved by the Select Committee at that July 2001 meeting. The audit was coordinated by the ZBMR Group and conducted by the aforementioned Council District Representatives of the Select Committee.

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SCOPE   The Safety audit conducted by the Select Committee  s members was aimed at the top management levels of the operating departments evaluated. The audit was conducted utilizing a Safety Survey Questionnaire as the baseline information gathering mechanism. A sample of the survey form is provided in APPENDIX A. Individual survey interviews were conducted with the Director and then the safety manager of each department. The Safety audit targeted the following City Departments:

• Development Services • Metropolitan Waste Water • Engineering and Capital Projects • Parks & Recreation • Environmental Services • Police • Fire and Life Safety • Transportation  • General Services • Water   The Departments surveyed include the City  s Big Eight operating departments and two additional large administrative Departments. These departments contain approximately 84% of the City  s employees and account for 90% of the City  s reported injuries over the past three years. The Survey process covered the time period from mid August to the end of October 2001.   In addition to the safety survey interview process, the ZBMR Group obtained baseline safety information from the City  s Risk Management Department in order to determine the overall safety status of City operations from a strictly statistical viewpoint.   Finally, the ZBMR Group revisited the principal safety recommendations made in its 1999 report. Utilizing the safety survey results, statistical data and independent analysis, conclusions were reached regarding the implementation status of those recommendations.

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FINDINGS   This section of the report presents the results of the safety survey and the associated analysis of safety issues and statistics. It will be divided into three basic segments. The first segment will present the consolidated findings of the Safety Survey process. The second segment presents statistical data regarding the safety performance of the City  s Departments over the past three years. The third segment contains a review of the safety recommendations made in the 1999 ZBMR report and their current implementation status. A. SAFETY SURVEY RESULTS    The safety survey was aimed at the top management structure of the departments interviewed. Interviews were conducted with department directors (or their designated representative) and the safety managers. The survey was focused on determining the overall health of the safety culture that exists in the City  s operating departments and not to micro analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each individual department at a detail level. The ultimate goal of this analysis is to identify opportunities for improvement in the City  s safety culture. Therefore, the following summary presentation of the results of the interviews conducted will focus on safety management limitations rather than accomplishments. 1. Safety Programs.  The survey revealed that half of the departments interviewed did not have a department safety program in place. Approximately one half of the City  s employees and 67% of employee injuries reported in FY2001 are contained in these departments. Many of these departments consider the City  s Risk Management Department to be performing the duties of coordinating a Safety Program for them.   2. Safety Committees.    Over 30% of the departments interviewed did not have safety committees in place. Approximately 40% of the City  s employees are contained in these Departments. Of those that stated that they did have committees in place, most failed to provide minutes of the safety committee meetings as requested.   3. Accident Rates.   Over 60% of the departments either did not have knowledge or had inaccurate/incomplete knowledge of the level of injuries being incurred by their personnel. Several department heads did not know that injury rates in their departments had steadily increased over the past three year time frame.   4. Accident Investigation Procedures.  All departments stated that they had accident investigation procedures in place.

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  Accident Tracking & Reporting Procedures.  All departments stated that they had accident tracking and reporting procedures in place. However, 40%   did not provide copies of the procedures   as requested. Half of the departments stated that discussion of accident statistics was not an agenda item at staff meetings. Safety Bulletin Boards. Even though all departments interviewed stated that they had safety bulletin boards in use, over 60%   did not post lost time accident  statistics on those boards. This is a common methodology utilized by organizations to increase the safety awareness of their employees. Managerial Accountability.  All but one department stated that management evaluations were affected by safety performance, however over 50% admitted that they did not track the safety performance of supervisors.   Safety Audits.    Less than half of the departments stated that they had safety auditing procedures in place. Safety Manuals. All departments were able to provide samples of various safety procedures in a variety of formats, only 30-40% of the departments provided procedures that comprehensively covered their full department. In several instances, procedures were provided that had not been updated in over 15 years. Safety Budget.  Only three departments reported having budgets dedicated to safety. The Departments not having budgets dedicated to safety contain over 55% of the City  s employees and accounted for over 67% of the injuries reported in FY2001. Employee Safety Accountability.  Even though most departments stated that they had mechanisms in place whereby they held employees accountable for safely performing their jobs , over half of the departments did not provide documentation showing how this process was administered. Injury Illness Prevention Program (IIPP).  20% of the Departments stated that they did not have copies of the City  s IIPP available for their Divisions. These two departments contain approximately 30% of the City  s employees. Supervisor Accountability.    60% of the Departments did not have mechanisms in place to identify supervisors whose organizations had high rates of lost time accidents.

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15. Hazard Identification Procedures.  25%  of the Departments did not have a hazard identification procedure in place.   16. Safety Mission Statement.    60% of the departments did not have safety mission statements.   The safety survey revealed a broad range of safety consciousness from one department to another. As was stated earlier, the survey was not a detailed field audit. Therefore, verification regarding degree of compliance with stated polices and procedures was not conducted. The only mechanism which provided a degree of visibility regarding comprehensiveness of safety programs was the survey  s requests that the departments provide copies of procedures, meeting agendas, and similar source documents. In reviewing the responses to the questionnaire and analyzing the documents provided, the ZBMR team provides the following ancillary information:   • Supporting Documentation . Half of the Departments interviewed failed to provide comprehensive backup documentation to support positive statements made to survey questions.   • Standardized Citywide Safety Culture . In evaluating the patterns revealed in the safety survey, the ZBMR team could not help but be struck by the lack of consistency from one Department to another when in came to safety culture. This was evident in spite of Citywide programs such as IIPP. The extreme range of safety consciousness from one department to another suggests compliance standards are either not in place, not being used and/or not being enforced.   • Safety Consciousness at the Department Level . The safety consciousness at the individual Department level ranged from poor to excellent. Comments of the interviewer of one of the larger Departments with a high level of injuries is worth quoting:   " No surveyed individual had any meaningful information about the City's Overall Safety Program (IIPP), no individual had any meaningful information about a comprehensive Department Safety Program, no individual had any meaningful information about employee injury trends, and no individual was regularly evaluated or evaluated their subordinates on the basis of safety improvements ."   Other Departments (which have declining injury rates) received comments such as: " The Department runs a dedicated, sophisticated, and contemporary safety program " and " My conclusion from this interview and review of the documents I would give the Department an A rating for safety "    

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Unfortunately, the Departments which were deemed to have strong safety programs were in the minority.   • Overall Health of Safety Culture.  In spite of success stories in some Departments, the overall pattern revealed in reviewing the summarized results of the Departments responses to the survey questions is disturbing. The ZBMR team could not help but be struck by the "holes" in the overall safety consciousness of too many Departments. These "holes" include lack of safety programs, lack of accountability for safety performance, lack of safety budgets or staff and lack of management knowledge of Departmental safety performance. It is obvious that substantial opportunities exist to improve on the current state of the City's overall safety culture.   In order to fully understand the status of the City's safety health, the ZBMR team felt that a review of the injury statistics of the City's departments would be appropriate. This review is intended to provide hard data to more fully understand the impact of the trends observed in the safety survey. Therefore, the ZBMR team requested that the Risk Management Department compile injury and lost work time statistics for the past three years. This data is provided in the next section of the report.

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S AFETY A UDIT OF S AN D IEGO C ITY D EPARTMENTS       B. SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF CITY DEPARTMENTS         1. Safety Organizations   Before initiating the review of the safety performance of the City  s departments, it is important to understand the organizational structures which support the City  s safety processes. The Risk Management department provided the data in TABLE I  below, which itemizes the current safety staffing for the Big 8 departments of the City:     TABLE I     SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS       Environmental Services 2     Fire 0         General Services 0         MWWD 17     Parks & Recreation 0   4     Police 0          Transportation 0     Water 6 4     Risk Management 13       (  ) Safety organizational Support for these Departments is provided by the Risk Management Department  s Safety Division staff of 13. These 5 Departments alone contain approximately 60% of the City  s employees and accounted for 67% of the injuries reported by City employees in FY2001.     It should be noted that the Risk Managements role in providing safety support for 5 of the City  s Big 8 departments (as well as other departments) is that of a consultative support role. Also, in addition to safety training, the training positions shown above provide various other training.    In essence TABLE I reveals that the Water, Environmental Services, and Metropolitan Waste Water departments (which contain 21% of City employees) have combined safety staffs of 25 personnel and the     NGS   7 F INDI