6.2. ERMUSR 12-09-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~i Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 December 1, 2008 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Jerry Takle John Dietz Jerry Gumphrey From: Troy Adams Subject: Clothing Policy Phone: ?63.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 Recently, there have been some questions by staff regarding Elk River Municipal Utilities clothing policies pertaining to meter change out and their impact to employee safety. At the April 17, 2008 Elk River Municipal Utilities Meeting, the commission reviewed and approved changes to ERMU Policy Manual Section 7.1 -Clothing Policy and ERMU Employee Handbook Section 30 -Employee Clothing (both attached for reference). The changes to both documents resulted from an analysis of the arc flash assessment that had just been completed by USG. Based on the results of the arc flash assessment and an effort to reduce operational costs, delineation was drawn between the ERMU outside operation employees that work around energized electrical equipment and those who don't. Per the approved changes to the ERMU Handbook Section 30, the outside operation employees that do not work around energized electrical equipment would not receive fire retardant clothing. Also, short sleeve shirts would be substituted for pants. In the approved changes to the Clothing Policy under item #6, the 8 calorie clothes system is not required for residential meter change out. For many reasons, it makes sense to consider having one clothing system for all outside employees. Currently, ERMU employees that do not receive the 8 calorie fire retardant clothing system change out residential electric meters on a regular basis. There is also the possibility that any ERMU employee may need to work around energized electrical equipment, even if it's only in an all-hands-on-deck situation. The risks of arc flash are obviously less with the reduced frequency of exposure, but the fact is the risks are still there. Also to consider, the costs of the 8 calorie clothes system are more than the non fire retardant clothing. So there needs to be some balance between risk and cost. At present time, there are 17 employees that receive the 8 calorie clothes system and 7 employees that receive the non fire retardant clothes. Attached are current prices for both clothing systems for your reference and consideration.