In 2006:

After two successive years of substantial injury reduction and greater than expected organizational performance, FM is well-positioned to take further advantage of its emerging best practices.

The following core program elements are the foundation of the Facilities Management Integrated Safety Management System:

The eleven elements also correlate with the new ANSI Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, ANSI/AIHA Z10-2005, approved July 25, 2005. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) adopted this standard to encourage the use of an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management system to improve organizational performance.

Each of the eleven VPP elements is represented in the following five requirements of the ANSI Z10 - OHSMS continual improvement cycle:

• Management leadership and employee participation

• Implementation and Operation: hierarchy of controls, management of change, education, training and awareness, hazard identification

• Management Review

Our Safety Partners :

		UI Wellness
UI Heath Protection Office	IOSHA Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Consultation and Education	UI Department of Risk Management, Insurance & Loss Prevention

SAFETY SYSTEMS AND EMERGING BEST PRACTICES
During 2006, the second year of FM’s Safety Systems initiative, substantial progress was made on improving workplace safety and embedding safety as an integral component to all work processes. Key measurement indicators reflect marked improvement toward the visionary goal of Zero Injuries, with a 33% decrease in overall FM OSHA Recordable Injuries, a 98% rate of incident investigation, and a dramatic increase in Near-Miss Injuries investigated. Lost work time is showing a trend of reduction. The Mechanical Distribution shop in Utilities and Energy Management celebrated two years of Zero Injuries . The Power Plant OSHA Recordable rate fell below industry standard for the first time in recorded history.

Utilities shops led the department in all areas of Safety Systems performance. Utilities leadership developed visionary and strategic goals around safety and communicated clear expectations of all staff. Two unit-based safety committees were established, one at the Power Plant, and the other known as the Blue Team, in the Utilities Distribution, Water and Chilled Water Plants. Both teams include a high level of front-line participation. The Power Plant Safety Committee is led by elected members of front-line staff. Both committees are action-based working committees with well-organized agenda and improvement initiatives. The Power Plant undertook an enormous task of process mapping Lockout procedures for every piece of equipment in the plant. Team members visited best practices companies in the area and returned with new ideas to incorporate into Power Plant processes. A peer-based, hands-on LOTO training module was developed and completed for all Power Plant staff. Staff constructed a multiple-energy source, interactive training model on a cart to run all staff through various real-life situations they may face in the workplace.

Utilities staff also led the FM organization in its performance in the ROUTE 66 program, which provides a program structure of accumulated points for meeting compliance and program-based goals, such as holding safety tailgate meetings, pre-planning jobs, participating in Wellness activities and completing safety training. The Power Plant far surpassed any individual FM unit, earning 28 more points than required to complete the challenge. This came as no surprise during the 2006 program year, considering that an organization that is so committed to safety improvement would also lead the broader Facilities Management in a goal-oriented marketing program such as ROUTE 66 . Front-line staff members took a leadership role within the Power Plant to plan, organize and communicate the ROUTE 66 progress.

Most importantly, the Power Plant leadership and shop floor staff have adopted the philosophy that safety is integrated into everything they do, that an efficient and reliable plant operation is also a safe operation, and positively impacts the financial bottom line. Enough cannot be said about the fact that Utilities leadership created an environment to support this level of success.

ROUTE 66 – SAFETY SYSTEMS RECOGNITION PROGRAM
As part of FM’s Workplace of Choice – Workplace Safety strategic goals, a sub-group of the FM Safety Steering Committee, led by Utilities and Energy Management Director Glen Mowery, created a recognition program ROUTE 66 to provide incentives and recognition for completing workplace safety goals within individual shops. A web-based interactive trip map was created across the old Route 66, with points earned by shops to progress along the journey to destination cities along the highway. At the halfway point of Adrian, Texas, shops completing their goals were treated to a celebration of pie and recognition of their work. Goals included twelve specific objectives, including hazard identification, pre-planning of jobs, Wellness participation, holding shop tailgate meetings, completing safety training. Extra points were earned by sending staff to best practice conferences, UI Health Fair and getting flu shots. Of particular note, some best practice companies are marketing their recognition-based initiatives such as ROUTE 66, as the foundation of their safety program. FM places its primary focus on the systems of safety development, broad employee ownership and individual responsibility. At FM, ROUTE 66 is a visible recognition component within the safety systems programming, a much more comprehensive planning, partnerships and improvement model.

SAFETY PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The College of Public Health joined the Facilities Management Safety Systems partnership in January 2007. The partnership includes grant funded work through NIOSH on improving the custodial ergonomics injuries, and joint efforts with the UI Heartland Center for Occupational Safety and Health. College of Public Health faculty member Dan Anton and grad students performed custodial hazard analysis in one area and gathered job function data used to build an awareness presentation for all custodial staff. Facilities Management hosted Dr. William Heitbrink’s class again this year for tours of a Utilities shop as a class project. This provides an on-campus, real-life work environment for the class to assess specific hazards and write a team report of recommendations. The College of Public Health values the practical experience the students gain in FM’s “backyard research laboratory.” The College of Public Health and Facilities Management also partnered to host the 2 nd Best Practices Safety Conference. This helps the UI Heartland Center, College of Public Health to include the accomplishment in grant justification work.

Other partners in the Safety Systems initiative since 2005 include Iowa Occupation Safety and Health (IOSH), AFSCME International, Council 61 and Local 12, UI Health Protection Office, UI Risk Management and UI Wellness and UI Workers Compensation.

Facilities Management and UI Health Protection Office further strengthened their partnership in 2006 by co-conducting the annual HPO shop audits, and improving the process of identifying gaps in processes such as hazard identification and remediation of hazards, such as machine guarding, and further embedding compliance programming into the FM workplace. In December 2006, Health Protection Office worked with FM, UI Housing and other campus users to transition the Coastal Products Training package to a web-based compliance suit of offerings that were previously supported at the FM training lab. The web-based offerings are a further process improvement from the computer-based courses that allowed FM staff to take safety assessments and training courses from computers located in their workplace, rather than traveling to the FM training lab.

SAFETY SYSTEMS PLANNING
Four planning sessions with Diane Brown, AFSCME International Health and Safety Specialist, Washington, D.C., occurred during the year. These sessions included representatives from FM work units, UI Health Protection Office, UI Workers Compensation, UI Risk Management, College of Public Health, and UI Wellness. The planning sessions help the group assess progress on the safety systems initiative and further plan the systems approach into FM practices.

SAFETY PEER TRAINING GOAL PROGESS
Front line volunteers attended an AFSCME-sponsored peer training course at Kirkwood Community College in June 2006. This gave FM participants an opportunity to learn peer training techniques and determine applications in our work environment. The group determined that our organization was not quite ready for the peer training model, although two work units, Chilled Water Plant and Power Plant developed peer training modules for Forklift Certification and Lockout-Tagout (LOTO). This foundation will lay the ground work for further goal achievement in 2007.

SAFETY BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE
Facilities Management hosted a Safety Best Practices Conference, Individual Responsibility and Leadership in Safety , Wednesday, May 17, to showcase the organizations in Iowa with the best practices in safety. The conference brought together businesses, business agents and associations, regulators and university staff who are invested in adopting and sustaining practices that promote a safe workplace. More than 300 participants registered for the day-long event, held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Iowa City.

The conference was sponsored by a number of partners, including the Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety, AFSCME, UI Wellness, Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Consultation and Education, UI Health Protection Office, UI Risk Management, Van Meter Inc., and UI Facilities Management.

Presenters at the conference included representatives of Alliant Energy, Crandic Railroad, FM Global, Cedar River Paper, Rockwell, Monsanto, Mortenson Construction and Marsh, Inc., among others. Attendees included representatives of the City of Cedar Rapids, City of Davenport, City of Iowa City, Iowa Department of Transportation, Victor Plastics, Inc., Gazette Communications, Lenox Manufacturing, Nordstrom Direct, B.G. Brecke, Heinz Quality Chef Foods, and Iowa State University.

MORTENSON BEST PRACTICES SAFETY PRESENTATION
Due to popular demand, Chris Tschida, Safety Engineer, and Paul Kitching, Kinnick Stadium Renovation Construction Manager from Mortenson Construction were brought back for two special presentations at the Biology Building East auditorium on June 29, 2006. Facilities Management staff, UI contractors and others learned about Mortenson’s Zero-injury program, and the elements of a successful safety culture. Attendees indicated this presentation transcended the business of construction and spoke to safety in every workplace.

MAKING SAFETY TRAINING MORE INTERACTIVE AND INTERESTING
FM staff and members of AFSCME Local 12 requested in 2006 that we seek ways to make safety training more interesting. They suggested that staff completing the computer-based safety modules were at times going through the motions in order to pass the evaluation portion and were still getting injured on the job. Anecdotal data from injury statistics corroborate this observation. During 2006, four opportunities arose to incorporate “hands-on” or instructor-led training into the safety offerings:

1. ARC-FLASH: NFPA 70 E is a new compliance-based training requirement for anyone working on electrical lines and components and circuitry, whether open or closed. The class requires technical knowledge of electrical work and associated hazards. Facilities Management staff Dave Jackson and Joe Brinson met with area training officers from Van Meter, Inc., one of the University electrical vendors, Bill Noak, a trainer and expert in the content of NFPA 70E, and a team of electricians from Facilities Management, to develop a specialized training based on the actual needs of the UI electricians. The result was an interactive one-day training module that included all electrical workers in Utilities and Operations & Maintenance in Facilities Management and other departments on campus, including UI Housing and HPO. The evaluations for this course were some of the highest ratings of training received. This speaks to the power of interactive training and including the users in the development of course content. This course helped establish a model for future improvements in safety training development on campus.

2. LOTO TRAINING
During August 2006, t he Power Plant staff developed and conducted hands-on training on the lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures that are specific to the Power Plant's work involving any live energy source. The procedures lock out the energy source so it remains safe to work on the equipment without it accidentally starting. LOTO also helps to prevent burns caused by steam and electrocution. As part of the training module, plant staff built a model of multiple energy sources, including steam valves and electrical components that required participants to perform individual and gang lockout procedures. The energy source model was mounted on a moveable cart and can be used for refresher trainings and orientation for new staff in the future. This training helps to ensure consistent knowledge and application of lockout/tag out throughout the Power Plant. The training also meets the OSHA requirement for job specific training of the lockout/tagout program in the Safety Compliance Guide.

3. OSHA 30-HOUR COURSE
For the second year, FM offered instructor-led OSHA 30-Hour classes for staff throughout the work units, including Utilities, Design and Construction Services, and Operations & Maintenance.

4. FORKLIFT CERTIFICATION
Two front-line staff members of Chilled Water attended a “train-the-trainer” session for Forklift Operators Certification at Kirkwood Community College in September 2006. They came back with training aids and tools for making this training more interactive and interesting. They adapted a checklist to make it specialized for the University of Iowa, and are now serving as peer trainers for the organization. This demonstrates the level of ownership that is developing on the shop floor and within work units. Staff members are taking more responsibility for training their coworkers and embedding safety into everything they do.