Blast Elicits Call For Safety: Since the Daytona Accident, Lawmakers Want Federal Rules to Cover Public Workers.
Etan Horowitz
Sentinel Staff Write

TALLAHASSEE — State and federal lawmakers said Tuesday that they want to extend federal safety
standards to all public employees in an effort to prevent accidents like last year’s deadly wastewater explosion in Daytona Beach. The calls for action came on the day a federal safety board released its
final report on the Daytona Beach accident, which found that the city’s inspection and safety programs were inadequate. Read the entire article . . .

EMAILS: RISKY BUSINESS.
Mike Marinan
Senior Safety Consultant
Public Risk Underwriters

Does your agency recognize email as both an
incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous tool?
Juries and judges have weighed in and their verdict is clear: emails are risky business, resulting in multimillion dollar verdicts, huge settlements aimed at preventing public embarrassment, and the ruin of numerous successful careers. Almost 90% of all business communication is now conducted electronically—through email, instant messaging, and PDAs. In most cases, this communication is happening with minimal agency direction or guidelines, without formal policies, and with
little or no training. As a consequence, every employer and all Human Resource and Risk Management staff must seriously consider the liability that comes with the ease of creating, sending, forwarding, filing, or hiding an
email. Have you? Read the entire article . . .

DON’T CALL ME, I WON’T CALL YOU
Michael J. Roper and Anna E. Engelman
Bell & Roper, P.A.

Cell phone use has reached a new high. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (“CTIA”) estimates the number of cell phone subscribers, as of June 2006, has risen to over 219 million people in the United States, up more than 24.9 million from the prior year. More cell phones mean more distracted drivers on the roadway. A study conducted at the Harvard Center
for Risk Analysis estimates 300,000 highway injuries, over 2,600 deaths per year, and approximately 1.5 million “instances” of property damage are a result of cell phone use. The increase of incidents on the road has led to an increase in litigation, which has exposed not only the cell phone user to liability, but also his employer.  Read the entire article . . .

Report Findings Daytona Wastewater Treatment Explosion
Mike Marinan
Senior Safety Consultant
Public Risk Underwriters

The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board has released their findings from the January
11, 2006 explosion at the Bethune Point Wastewater
treatment plant in Daytona Beach.

A brief re-cap of the circumstances:

Two mechanics and one employee were dispatched to the Bethune Point plant to repair hurricane damage to metal roofing that had been erected to provide shade to two chemical storage tanks. The area of the roof they began to work on was located above a methanol storage tank approximately 30 feet above ground. The lead mechanic determined that they could remove the roof using a city-owned crane and rented man-lift.Read the entire article . . .