2003 Joint Safety Committee

JOINT SAFETY COMMITTEE REPORT
For
JANUARY 2003

The Joint Safety Committee convened on Thursday, January 9, 2003. the following issues were discussed:

Note: The Joint Safety Committee meeting for December 2002 was canceled. Many members of the committee were unable to attend the meeting due to illness, vacations, etc., so the December meeting agenda was deferred to January 2003.

Closed items:

• Fall protection test cell & trent build line- The fall protection systems and/or prototypes are in place. Concerns regarding the safe operation of the inertia reels and tie-off points for personnel have been addressed by means of load type testing. "Fine tuning" the correct use of the equipment will be deferred to the local safety circle.
• Machine shop barriers- Additional barriers are in facilities maintenance, Ronnie Skinner will facilitate installation as needed. Walkway controversy has been cleared with Fire Marshall.
• Quick reference cards- Have been manufactured and are available. the cards are designed to attach onto the AA badge holder clips. They have important phone numbers listed as well as a fire procedures brief, lightning detection info, and MSDS info access thru the inranet.
• Protective clothing- For moisture resistance and tearing resistance is available for central clean, A/C cleaners, paint and fiberglass shop, etc. upon request. See Mark Wondolowski, AFW Safety Engineer.
• Cart parking, in structures bldg. corridor- Carts and forklifts blocking the corridor near the cafeteria entrance. Clear lines have been added and the issue has been deferred to the local area safety circle to monitor.

Open items:

• Radio use when working flaps in hangar- Mike Schwanz and Kip Richard will investigate this item and report back to JSC/APC as to it's status.

Other points of interest:

• Emergency Response Team- volunteers have been solicited throughout base. The first interviews will begin on January 17, 2003. Training will follow.

Safety circle reports:

• Safety circle reports were presented discussed from bay 4, galley shop, lav shop, and stores. I would like to thank bay 4 for providing an exceptional progress report on safety related improvements in that work area.

New business:

• Interior shop ventilation- This item has been placed back on the agenda. Re-evaluation of the system confirmed that modifications required for proper operation of the equipment had never been made. Damper modifications are needed for correct, balanced operation. Also outside air "backflow" problems need to be addressed. Members in that shop have complained to me that the "system" has not been operational since November. This is very disappointing news, updates will be forthcoming.

Respectfully submitted by,
Mike Schwanz
Executive Board TWU Local 567
Safety and Health Committee Chairman

JOINT SAFETY COMMITTEE REPORT
For
DECEMBER 2003

The Joint Safety Committee convened on Tuesday, December 9, 2003. The following items were discussed or otherwise pertain to base safety:

OLD BUSINESS and CLOSED ITEMS

1) Loading carts safely: need braking device installed- interior shop. At last months meeting, the following information was forwarded to the committee by F/M management: “The FMSR has been submitted, that number must be submitted to Ronnie Skinner for tracking/status purposes.”
It was determined at the December JSC meeting that this information may have been inaccurate, so this item has been “re-opened”.

2) Structures environmental concerns- Pete Sirucek expressed concern regarding this ongoing issue. He committed to assist in it’s resolution and closure. Medical does have the chemical lists for the building, but it will take a team effort to sort through all aspects of this issue.
Status: Open/under investigation.

3) Lighting for blast fence on west end of hangar- Ben Macre will set up a meeting on this issue AA safety, TWU safety and a management representative from the hangar to determine safety related merits to the request.

SAFETY CIRCLE MEETING REPORTS/FEEDBACK

TAESEL- No report
STORES- No report
Structures- See above #2
BAY 2- Next meeting will be Friday at 1:00pm, 12-12-03
BAY 4- Updates on new lighting
Interior shop- See above #1

NEW BUSINESS and CURRENT EVENTS

1.) Review OSHA recordable injury stats: Injury statistics through November of 2003 were compared to the same period for 2002 at AFW. System-wide charts were also reviewed. AFW experienced 106 OSHA recordable injuries in 2003 as compared to 229 recordables for the same period in 2002. The AFW injury rate decrease and improved safety awareness goals reflect the collective efforts and contributions of all members of the Joint Safety Committee.

2.) ERT (emergency response team) Program update: Kip provided an update on the status of the ERT program. CPR training for the team is in progress and should be complete in January. After CPR training the team will attend “medical protocol” classes with Dr. Fisher, the duration of this class is uncertain at this time. Also PA announcement codes need to be determined to provide the ability to broadcast “base-wide” announcements over the existing PA system. The ERT program should be in place by late spring.

3.)Trichlorethylene (trich) incident TEO building- On Thursday, Dec.4th the TEO building was briefly evacuated due to high concentrations of trichlorethylene fumes in the atmosphere. The incident occurred at approximately 10:00 am Thursday morning. At first a spill was suspected, but it was later learned that the fumes escaped from a tank in the FPI area located near central clean. The following brief describes the issue: The “trich” is heated to approx. 220º, as the vapors rise in the tank they are “condensed” by a cold barrier created by 3 rings of chilled water coils, located towards the top of the tank. In this case, the coils failed and the “trich” vapors were free to escape the tank and would continue to do so until they cooled down to approx. 140º. We (Safety) made the call to evacuate the building in order to give the HAZMAT team time to respond and investigate the area to confirm that the fumes were not caused by “leaks”. AA and TWU Safety continued to monitor the situation while make-up air units were energized to place a maximum positive pressure inside the building to flush the fumes out. Once the “trich” cooled down the fumes ceased to escape and no further problems were discovered. The building was re-opened at approx. 12:15pm.

4.) Minor fire in cabin area Bay 2 aircraft- On Friday an incident was reported to a local Executive Board member involving a small fire in the cabin of the aircraft. AA and TWU Safety did a follow-up investigation on Monday morning. The incident occurred when cleaners spraying citrus cleaner near “energized” avionics equipment caused the fire. Other similar incidents have occurred in the past, combustible dust also adds to the potential danger in such circumstances. The supervisor committed to forward a brief report to the AA safety engineer for further evaluation and recommendations for permanent preventive procedural measures. Updates will be forthcoming.

5.) Phenolic dust in the structures building- Odors caused by phenolic dust and concerns raised by employees triggered an investigation of the issue. MSDS data describe the dust generated by sawing the material as a “nuisance hazard”. The phenolic material in question is a phenol-formaldehyde resin and cellulose reinforcement (cotton fabric) material. Though the product is not hazardous, dust inhalation should be avoided by use of appropriate protective equipment.

Michael Schwanz
Safety and Health Committee

“ Self-satisfaction regarding Spiritual Growth is a clear sign that we are moving in a Perilous Direction.” -- Ariel

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