An ongoing challenge for most agencies is minimizing the risk of Slips, Trips and Falls (STF), a loss leader for PDRMA members. Here’s how two agencies addressed the issue at their facilities with the help of PDRMA resources.

Pleasure Driveway and Park District of Peoria

As part of the 2019 Risk Management Review Pilot Group B, Peoria used the Kickoff Form to look at two major STF areas. “Our Golf Learning Center facility has an indoor driving range, which we set up and take down seasonally,” remembers Karrie Ross, Superintendent of Finance. “In 2018, an employee fell from a ladder while dismantling the range’s netting.” PDRMA Risk Management Consultants suggested swapping the traditional frame ladder for a platform ladder.

“We worked with facility employees to procure a platform ladder, and PDRMA covered our cost through the Ladder Reimbursement Program,” explains Ross. “We work very hard to avoid employee injuries, but if one occurs, we investigate the cause of the incident and make corrections and revisions...

Spring means heading back into the great outdoors — for agency employees as well as patrons. Whether it’s planting, painting, lawn care, maintenance or preparing athletic fields and facilities, employees will be busy prepping for warm weather fun.

Keeping them safe while they get things ready is always important, and Winfield Park District found a way to reduce the risk of injuries associated with trailer operations — with a little help from a Gorilla.  

“I attended PDRMA’s Safe Operation and Towing of a Trailer course with a colleague,” explains Thomas Banks, Jr., Maintenance Foreman, Winfield Park District. “Tim Jaskiewicz (PDRMA Risk Management Consultant) reminded us about PDRMA’s subsidy for selected safety products, such as a trailer ramp lift-assist product. I did some research and found the Gorilla Lift Gate System. We purchased one through Amazon for our trailer equipped with a ramp. It had great reviews and was the perfect addition to improve job-task safety.”

The system makes it easy to raise and lower a utility or ATV trailer's tailgate — among other benefits — and it fits most open utility trailers with 12-to-24-inch side rails and 4-to-6-foot tailgates...

As the Risk Management Review enters the second year of its pilot, PDRMA’s Risk Management Services Department and members continue to test and tweak the component pieces. At the end of January....

Be sure to take advantage of PDRMA’s practical and insightful training courses this spring to keep staff and patrons safe in 2020. You don’t have to step into the batter’s box, but you CAN step up to the plate to reduce injury...