Attending: Carol Eckert, Leslie Walleigh, Peter Doran, Ginger Jordan-Hillier, Ruth Lawson-Stopps, Ivan Most, Kathy Schulz, Desi-Rae Severson, Kim Lim, Leslie Manning, and Terry Hathaway

Call to Order. Carol Eckert called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.

Transition of Chair. Carol transitioned the Chair responsibilities to Leslie Walleigh.

Approval of January 14th Minutes. After clarification of the minutes, Peter Doran made a motion to approve the January 14, 2009 minutes as written. Ivan Most seconded the motion. Vote, unanimous.

Election of Vice-Chair. Ruth asked about the responsibilities of the Vice Chair. Leslie Walleigh said that the main duty of the vice chair is to oversee the MORA meetings in the absence of the Chair. It is expected that the Vice-Chair will become the Chair in two years. Kim stated that originally MORA had decided that a State employee could NOT be chair as that would be considered a conflict of interest. Carol added that all members who are not State employees have already served as Chair. There was further discussion and Terry will look into past records to see if it was in writing. Leslie Walleigh has tabled the discussion for a couple of months. In the meantime, there will be an interim Vice Chair. Ivan Most nominated Linda Huff as interim Vice Chair. Peter Doran seconded the motion. Vote, unanimous.

PDAG Update – Leslie Walleigh. Brian Doe will be working on the Self-insured Study of Medical Only reports with Bill Peabody. Dave Wacker is working on a 50/50 grant, which would provide Federal money into Maine for the Public Sector and allow the Workplace Safety and Health Division to increase their staff. Also, Dave is working on getting a “State as an Employer Safety Committee”.

Leslie Manning explained that SafetyWorks! not only includes the Workplace Safety and Health Division, but also the Wage and Hour Division and Outreach and Education. She further explained that the Workplace Safety and Health Division’s 21-D Program is a federally funded program through OSHA. This program targets Maine employers at the greatest risk (construction, manufacturing, etc.). Kim Lim and Linda Huff, Research and Statistics Unit, will be doing a study on EISA (Expedited Informal Settlement Agreement). This is when OSHA goes in and identifies hazards and tells the company that if they voluntarily call in SafetyWorks!, OSHA will reduce the fines. Kim and Linda will be studying the outcomes of the EISA’s.

There was further discussion concerning OSHA representation at MORA as MORA would like to see more of OSHA at their monthly meetings. Bill Coffin has been replaced as the Compliance Assistance Officer by Brian Sullivan. Leslie Manning has invited Brian to attend the meetings, but has not heard anything from him at this time. She explained that Mike LaPlante could not be at this meeting, but does want to attend a future MORA meeting.

Leslie Manning explained that SafetyWorks! is comprised of voluntary compliance as well as Outreach and Education. Maine is the only state that teaches and reports our public numbers properly.

SafetyWorks! has two programs recognizing companies – SHARP (Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program) and SHAPE (Safety and Health Award for Public Employers).

Maine Asthma Workplace Group Meeting Update – Ruth Lawson-Stopps. The Maine Astma Workplace Group is seeking more information on common workplace triggers; i.e., the occupations with the greatest number of exposures. Linda Huff will see how it adapts to Maine. They will be adding information to the Maine Asthma Program web site. The group is also starting to identify partnerships. Maine has the highest rate of asthma.

Update – Pilot Project on Lean Manufacturing – Ivan Most. Ivan did a power point presentation on “Lean Manufacturing and Safety in the Manufacturing Environment”. He explained that lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to efficiency improvement by identifying and eliminating was through continuous improvement. The key question is that as companies evaluate their processes and discover ways steps can be eliminated, is it logical to ask whether this also improves employee safety? Ivan did a literature search in engineering and public health journals, using the keywords Lean Manufacturing and Safety and yielded 249 citations, which he narrowed to 10 based on title and abstract. The findings included safety not always involved in a move to lean manufacturing, material handling resulted in many injuries, and majority of articles postulated improvement in safety with lean manufacturing conversions. Ivan concluded that research protocol needs to be carefully considered and metrics need to be chosen that measure extent of lean manufacturing conversion as well as the effect on safety. The next steps are: interim phase, establish research protocol, work with interested parties from Maine Department of Labor and MEP, agree upon metrics, pilot test with selected Maine companies, and establish funding source for major research plan. Ivan will draft a report and get it to the MORA members.

Review of MORA Priorities – All. Tabled to the next meeting. Leslie W. asked for members of a subgroup. The following MORA members volunteered to be on the subgroup with Leslie W.: Linda Huff, Kathy Schulz, and Leslie Manning.

Next Meeting – Wednesday, March 11, 2009. The next regularly scheduled MORA meeting for Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, Frances Perkins Conference Room, Maine Department of Labor, Central Maine Commerce Center.

Adjournment. Leslie Walleigh adjourned the meeting at 11:37 a.m.

/tmh