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Gun violence awareness; Milwaukee events promote safety

Gun violence awareness; Milwaukee events promote safety

With gun violence skyrocketing in Milwaukee, Mayor Cavalier Johnson declared Friday, June 3 National Gun Violence Awareness Day and asked people to wear orange throughout the weekend.

Saturday, photos of people who lost their lives to gun violence lined Sherman Boulevard.

“It’s really sad, and it’s hard because it’s really just a struggle when you just sit and think like: Wow, my son was killed,'” said Karin Tyler with Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention.

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Tyler lost her son in 2011. He was shot and killed during a robbery at his apartment. June is a hard month for Tyler; her son’s birthday was June 8.

“It’s an emotional time for me, and I don’t think people realize the different things that moms or families have to go through after everything happens, even years after,” she said.

Photos of gun violence victims line Sherman Boulevard, part of “Wear Orange” weekend

How to reduce gun violence is a topic many people have opinions about.

“We want to be out here to show support to the families, to show support for the community, but to also distribute gun locks to promote firearm safety,” said Vaynesia Kendrick, an adolescent suicide community outreach specialist.

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About five miles south of Saturday’s event along Sherman, Adam Campbell works as the director of training for Brew City Shooter’s Supply.

“There’s a lot of people that have guns that don’t know anything about them, and they get most of their information from movies or the media,” Campbell said. “To reduce gun crime overall, if you’re just putting that question, posing it to me like that, I would say the key is education, training.”

Brew City Shooter’s Supply

Back on Sherman Boulevard, people held up signs and wore orange Saturday. The city’s Office of Violence Prevention said it will continue to offer outreach events.

“We’ll have different organizations out in all types of communities every weekend doing this work,” said Tyler.

The “Wear Orange” event started seven years ago to honor a Chicago teen who was shot and killed.

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Hawkesbury OPP hosting series of events for Police Week and Road Safety Week

Hawkesbury OPP hosting series of events for Police Week and Road Safety Week

Police Week and Road Safety Week is May 15 to 21, and the Hawkesbury Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Detachment has several activities planned to involve the community with police services and road safety.  

On Sunday, May 15, an information exhibit will be set up outside Asselin Independent Grocer on Highway 17 in Hawkesbury from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 pm. The grill will be fired up and hot dogs for sale with all proceeds going to the OPP Veteran’s Association.  

On Tuesday May 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. a presentation on E-bike, scooter, and motorcycle safety will take place at the Maximum Powersports parking lot at the corner of Main and John streets in downtown Hawkesbury.     

A presentation on all-terrain vehicle (ATV) safety is taking place on Thursday May 19 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Plantagenet Town Hall.   

OPP officers will be checking for valid driver’s licences, vehicle registration, and insurance during the afternoon of Friday May 20 at the Long Sault Bridge in Hawkesbury.    

Just in time for the start of the season, boaters can learn about safety regulations at a boating safety presentation taking place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the Canadian Tire parking lot, located at the corner of Highway 17 and Cameron Street in Hawkesbury.  

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Bicycle Safety Week in Saskatchewan – GlobalNews Events

This is the 20th year that BICYCLE SAFETY WEEK has been held in Saskatchewan.  Bicycle Safety Week is an opportunity to pay special attention to child cyclists, provide education, and hold events to promote safe cycling.  Cycling-related injuries are a leading cause of hospitalizations in children and youth.  Education and awareness are key for reducing these injuries.

The Minister of Crown Investments has designated May 15th to 21st, 2022 Bicycle Safety Week in Saskatchewan.  This designation celebrates the commitment and enthusiasm of community members and agencies that dedicate their time to educating our children on bicycle safety and in reducing bicycle-related injuries.

The theme for 2022 is READY TO RIDE with a focus on ensuring children have the proper equipment and skills to get ready to ride their bicycles.  Many communities across Saskatchewan are hosting BIKE RODEOS throughout spring and summer where children have the opportunity to have their helmuts and bicycles adjusted to ensure proper fit, as well as learn and practice bicycle safety skills.  The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute provides support in planning events, bicycly safety resources, and educational packages for children.

For more information about Bicycle Safety Week, visit https://skprevention.ca/safety/bike-and-wheel-safety/.  When children, parents, caregivers, and communities work together, serious and life-altering bicycle injuries can be prevented.

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Common Adverse Events with Single-Agent or Combination Therapy

Common Adverse Events with Single-Agent or Combination Therapy

Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: Safety and Efficacy of Available Treatment Options and Considerations for Patient Management – Episode 18

Mehmet Asim Bilen, MD, provides an overview of commonly observed adverse events in patients with metastatic RCC receiving single-agent or combination therapy.

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Reducing injection-related safety events in retina clinics | OPTH

Angiotensinogen and Risk of Stroke Events in Patients with Type 2 Diab | DMSO

Introduction

Intravitreal injections are one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States,1 and are performed in outpatient ophthalmology clinics to treat macular edema and choroidal neovascular membranes from various retinal diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusions, posterior segment inflammation, endophthalmitis, age-related macular degeneration and myopic degeneration.2 Commonly administered medications into the posterior segment include anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents (bevacizumab, ranibizumab, aflibercept and brolucizumab), corticosteroids (triamcinolone and dexamethasone), and various anti-infective medications (vancomycin, ceftazidime, voriconazole, foscarnet).3 These medications can be administered in one or both eyes, sometimes during the same visit. For many chronic retinal diseases, patients receive a series of intravitreal injections on a recurring schedule which necessitates having a safe injection protocol in place to prevent adverse events.

Despite the large number of intravitreal injections performed (estimated at 5.9 million injections in the United States in 2016),2 ophthalmologists vary widely in terms of preferred safety techniques and protocols.4 Intravitreal injection-related patient safety events can range in severity from causing no significant harm to the patient to having a severe adverse effect.5 Much of the emphasis on safety in intravitreal injections centers around the risk of post-injection endophthalmitis.1 At the Kellogg Eye Center (KEC), University of Michigan, we identified several injection-related safety events that led to a detailed systematic review of our entire injection process. The goal of this project was to reduce injection-related patient safety events to zero following implementation of a revised intravitreal injection protocol.

Materials and Methods

The objective of this Quality Improvement (QI) project was to (a) implement a practice to improve the quality of care, and (b) collect patient or provider data regarding the implementation of the practice for clinical, practical, or administrative purposes. Such activities do not satisfy the definition of “research” under 45 CFR 46.102(d), which is “ … a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge … ” Therefore, the Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations for the protection of human subjects do not apply to such quality improvement activities, and there is no requirement under these regulations for such activities to undergo review by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), or for these activities to be conducted with provider or patient informed consent. Exempt research is now codified at 45 CFR 46.104.

In March 2018, in response to safety events, Michigan Medicine’s KEC organized a multidisciplinary task force consisting of faculty retinal specialists, ophthalmic technicians, medical assistants, photographers, clerical staff, clinic administrators and continuous improvement specialists to analyze the current state of intravitreal injection workflow at our institution. Initial meetings focused on educating the team on the continuous improvement tools that would be used for the analysis, which included Lean strategies and Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA).6 The team met weekly or biweekly through the end of May 2018. During this time the team conducted observations and drafted process maps for all the key players/steps in the intravitreal injection process; status reports were submitted regularly to the department and hospital patient safety leadership. Injection-related risk reports were not rigorously reported prior to 2017, therefore the task force instituted a proactive risk assessment of the intravitreal injection process from 2017–18 using the HFMEA model developed by the Veterans Affairs National Center for patient safety in 2001 as a guide.6 The aim was to determine the vulnerabilities that contributed to previous safety events and to also identify additional potential points of failure that could be curtailed before they resulted in a near-miss or unintended adverse outcome. The task force identified the following possible injection-related major safety events: wrong patient, wrong site, wrong medication, and expired medication.

The HFMEA necessitates analyzing and diagramming the primary process steps or tasks and the subprocess steps for the intended procedure. Each subprocess step is further dissected to identify what could prevent the step from being completed correctly (failure modes [FMs]) and why these FMs occur (failure mode causes).7 Countermeasures are then proposed and implemented to address those vulnerabilities.

Results

Greater than 15,000 injections are performed annually at the four retina clinics that span the main KEC location. We have 20 faculty physicians and 42 ophthalmic technicians and medical assistants who administer and assist the physician with intravitreal injections, respectively. The total number of injection-related safety events was one in 2017 (wrong eye) and 16 in early 2018 (two wrong medication, 14 expired medication) prior to this project. These injection-related safety events were not isolated to a particular faculty member, staff member or clinical site.

Figure 1 outlines the process map for intravitreal injections performed at KEC retina clinics at baseline. In conducting this review, a total of 12 potential vulnerabilities leading to a safety event were identified for 5 of the 7 steps (the check-out process and the examination by the physician were felt to be low risk for contributing to an error and were excluded as a vulnerable steps). Of the 12 vulnerabilities identified, 5 were prioritized as high-value/high-impact and are included in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Intravitreal injection process map.

The analysis of the process map led to several countermeasures and changes in how retina clinics perform intravitreal injections at KEC. The task force created an intravitreal injection Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that was then applied to all KEC retina clinics and physicians. Notably, the SOP includes daily safety huddles focusing on team communication and identifying potential issues for the day, as well as mandating a 6-point standardized timeout process for every injection, specifically including laterality, medication name and expiration date (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Kellogg Eye Center pre-procedure time-out.

The task force then introduced the new SOP to all four KEC retina clinics (including faculty, trainees, and staff). This educational effort spanned two months (September-November 2018). Subsequently, periodic audits of adherence to the SOP by a team of independent outside observers were instituted and their aggregate results shared regularly with the retina clinic workforce. In the 18-month follow-up period (December 2018-May 2020) after implementation of the SOP, there were zero patient safety events associated with intravitreal injections at KEC. This ultimately resulted in an institutional safety award being granted to the main KEC retina clinic, marking the first time an ambulatory clinic at the University of Michigan received this recognition.

Discussion

In 2018, 14 injection-related safety events were due to the use of expired medications. The cluster of expired medications came to one clinic together as one lot, and that lot was administered consecutively to different patients on the same day by the same team who did not realize the medications were expired.

Our task force’s in-depth review of the baseline intravitreal injection process identified many potential vulnerabilities. Using a simple impact/effort analysis, 5 high-priority vulnerabilities which could lead to patient safety events were further examined to assess if barriers to error were already in place or needed modification. The following changes were then implemented:

Clinic Staff Unaware of Patient Volume or Staffing Shortages

Planning for daily retina clinic huddles, which included sharing metrics to monitor patient volume and encouraging open communication between all team members, began in June 2018. The huddles were formally initiated the following month.

Prior Notes are Incomplete or Incorrect

The retina service chief addressed the critical importance of complete and accurate notes at a meeting with retina faculty and staff. In addition, staff were actively encouraged and empowered to speak up if they encountered a note with missing information.

The Wrong Patient Walks from the Waiting Room to Clinic

The use of 2-point patient identifiers (full name and date of birth) at the start of each clinic encounter and at all handoffs between caregivers was reinforced.

Incorrect Orders Entered Into the Electronic Health Record

Identifying countermeasures and streamlining the injection process led to creation and implementation of an intravitreal injection SOP designed to prevent patient harm. The SOP mandates verification of the order placed in the electronic medical record against the written plan. Since poor communication is a root cause of many safety errors,8 educating the retina clinic teams about implementing this SOP was a key step in improving the safety culture in our department as our teams pursue the goal of clear and open dialogue among all members.

The Standard Hospital Time-Out Does Not Include the Medication to Be Injected

A pre-existing standard KEC 6-point clinic procedure time-out used in all KEC clinics was modified to be relevant to clinic-performed intravitreal injections, as part of the SOP. These modifications included the additions of verifying medication name and expiration date aloud during the pre-injection time-out.

After daily huddles were initiated in all four retina clinics as part of this project, similar huddles also spread to other sections in our department; now all KEC clinical areas perform daily huddles. In addition, having independent auditors from outside the department observe the injection process periodically affords us the opportunity to refine and adjust the SOP. Moreover, the auditor team can evaluate SOP adherence and then discretely give feedback regarding an individual’s performance, which is a key factor in maintaining adherence.9

While auditing is helpful, positive feedback as well as the support of departmental and institutional leadership are key factors in the success of having zero harm events in the 18 months after implementation of the SOP. The main KEC retina clinic was awarded an institutional 365 Days of Safety Award in recognition of a full year without injection-related safety errors. Such recognition is a powerful tool to reward and incentivize the clinic team members in pursuit of the goal of patient safety. In addition, promoting an institutional approach of team-based systemic improvement rather than blaming specific individuals involved in safety errors contributes to the culture of safety that should be the goal of every healthcare delivery system.10

This project is potentially limited in that the workflow of KEC retina clinics may not be identical to other retina clinics. Thus, we would encourage tailoring of our intravitreal injection SOP to other sites and institutions as necessary. Also, follow-up longer than 18 months is needed to know if adherence to the SOP can be sustained with the goal of avoiding future adverse safety events.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that it is possible to redesign and implement an intravitreal injection protocol to reduce the rate of safety events in a large academic eye center. It is important to engage clinical staff at all levels when creating and implementing a quality improvement plan. Promoting a culture of open communication, humility, and lack of individual blame can lead to continuous improvement in the safety of many tasks we perform daily as health care providers. Support and buy-in from leadership as well from every member of the clinical team is imperative towards the goal of achieving zero patient harm.

Acknowledgments

Current affiliation for Philip Lieu: Retina Specialists, 10740 N. Central Expy, Ste 100, Dallas, Texas, 75231, USA

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

References

1. Haddock LJ, Ramsey DJ, Young LH. Complications of subspecialty ophthalmic care: endophthalmitis after intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor medications. Semin Ophthalmol. 2014;29(5–6):263–275. doi:10.3109/08820538.2014.959616

2. Grzybowski A, Told R, Sacu S, et al. Update on Intravitreal Injections: euretina Expert Consensus Recommendations. Ophthalmologica. 2018;(239):181–193. doi:10.1159/000486145

3. Barash A, Lim JI, Tripathy K, et al. Intravitreal Injections. EyeWiki. 2020;1:34.

4. Uhr JH, Xu D, Rahimy E, et al. Current Practice Preferences and Safety Protocols for Intravitreal Injection of Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Agents. Ophthalmol Retina. 2019;3(8):649–655. doi:10.1016/j.oret.2019.03.013

5. Kelly SP, Barua A. A Review of Safety Incidents in England and Wales For Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Inhibitor Medications. Eye. 2011;25(6):710–716. doi:10.1038/eye.2011.89

6. DeRosier J, Stalhandske E, Bagian JP, et al. Using Health Care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis ™: the VA National Center for Patient Safety’s prospective risk analysis system. Jt. Comm J Qual Improv. 2002;28(248):209.

7. DeRosier JM, Hansemann BK, Smith-Wheelock MW, et al. Using Proactive Risk Assessment (HFMEA) to Improve Patient Safety and Quality Associated with Intraocular Lens Selection and Implantation in Cataract Surgery. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2019;45(10):680–685. doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2019.06.003

8. Burgener AM. Enhancing Communication to Improve Patient Safety and to Increase Patient Satisfaction. Health Care Manag (Frederick). 2017;36(3):238–243. doi:10.1097/HCM.0000000000000165

9. Hanskamp-Sebregts M, Ziegers M, Boeijen W, et al. Process evaluation of the effects of patient safety auditing in hospital care (part 2). Int J Qual Health Care. 2019;31(6):433–441. doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzy173

10. Reis CT, Paiva SG, Sousa P. The patient safety culture: a systematic review by characteristics of Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture dimensions. Int J Qual Health Care. 2018;30(9):660–677. doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzy080

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Nebraska: Safety courses & hands-on events scheduled

Nebraska: Safety courses & hands-on events scheduled

May 24 – Lincoln County Extension Office, 348 West State Farm Rd, North Platte

Contacts: Randy Saner randy.saner@unl.edu and Vicki Neidhardt 308.532.2683, vicki.neidhardt@unl.edu

May 26 – Raising Nebraska, 501 East Fonner Park Rd, Grand Island

Contact: Sarah Polak, 308.385.3967, spolak2@unl.edu

Tractor Driving Days

May 25 – Lincoln County Extension Office, 348 West State Farm Rd, North Platte

Contacts: Randy Saner randy.saner@unl.edu and Vicki Neidhardt 308.532.2683, vicki.neidhardt@unl.edu

June 6 – Akrs Equipment, 49110 US Hwy 20 in O’Neill

Contact: Debra Walnofer, 402.336.2760, dwalnofer2@unl.edu

June 7 – Legacy of the Plains Museum, 2930 Old Oregon Trail #8500 in Gering

Contact: Stacy Brown, 308.632.1480, sbrown7@unl.edu

June 8 – AKRS Equipment, 44098 Hwy 2, Broken Bow (Todd Sutherland)

Contact: Denise Daake, 308.872.6831, denise.daake@unl.edu

June 9 – Adams County Extension, 2975 South Baltimore Ave, Hastings

Contact: Ron Seymour ron.seymour@unl.edu and Twila Bankson 402-461-7209, twila.bankson@unl.edu

June 10 – Cass County Fairgrounds, 8400 144th St, Weeping Water

Contact: Sandy Prall, 402.267.2205, sprall2@unl.edu

If you have questions please contact the administrator listed above at your driving site, or contact Ellen Duysen ellen.duysen@unmc.edu.

To register visit https://cvent.me/44ExVl

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F1 told drivers it will ‘reconsider safety of events’ after attack · RaceFans

Fire at Aramco oil plant after attack, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2022

Formula 1 told drivers it will reconsider the safety and security of all its events following the missile attack which occured yesterday, 10 kilometres away from the scene of this weekend’s race.

Valtteri Bottas and others revealed details of the discussion in the late night meeting between the Grand Prix Drivers Association and F1 bosses following the attack.

He confirmed drivers raised concerns about the safety of the event after seeing smoke from the large fire which broke out at the oil plant which was struck near the circuit.

“We drivers, we were all concerned if it’s safe for all of us to be here, to race here,” said Bottas. “And we got decent explanations on things.

“Also we went through all the options – like what if we don’t race? For example, that will still mean the teams would have to stay here for a couple of days packing stuff. And it’s not like you can create suddenly new flights to get home.

“We’re already here, so our best option was to race here. They’ve increased all the safety facilities and all this defence. So I think everyone agreed that we might as well do the race and hope for the best.”

F1 is in the second event of a 15-year deal to race in Saudi Arabia. Bottas said the series will consider whether it is safe to continue racing there and at other venues.

“Obviously last night was quite late and in some places you don’t need to have that discussion,” he said. “So it’s a unique grand prix.

“At least Formula 1 promised us to reconsider all the events for the future, including this one, to make sure that we go to the right places, that they can guarantee our safety 100% always when we go there.”

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Bottas said he “preferred not to answer” whether he was in favour of racing at the track this weekend or in future. However, he said the GPDA was “really, really united at the moment” despite the decision to do ahead with the race.

“It felt like everyone was kind of feeling the same. With any issues, we will always regroup and go through them and give our view. If it makes a difference that’s nice but it’s not always guaranteed it will.”

GPDA director George Russell said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali had the backing of the association and also expects further discussions after this weekend.

“I think clarity was needed, the conversation was certainly needed and I think it was good. We’re all standing united, firstly between all the drivers and then together with Formula 1 and ultimately we trust in Stefano and Formula 1 as a whole.

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think it was right to be here. So obviously that’s going to need some clarity after this race weekend where we go from here. But from what I understand, everything was under control in this specific region and what happens outside of this region you cannot control.”

The drivers were “very united in asking for some transparency”, said Fernando Alonso, because “we were not happy just seeing the smoke clouds while driving and maybe not knowing the truth and the facts and everything.

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“So we wanted some transparency in that, we found that and I think we were happy.”

He said he is satisfied with the reassurances he’s had from those in charge about the security of the event. “We are here. Once we are here, I think we need to just make sure that the safety of everyone is guaranteed in a way.

“We [the drivers] look like we were there talking about our safety. But honestly, we are concerned about your safety: Media, mechanics, fans, everyone.

“So we think that all the organisers and the authorities and everyone, F1, FOM, are happy with how things are right now and how [they are] for the safety of everyone. So we have to move ahead. But we will hopefully not see any more of this kind of thing.”

Lewis Hamilton said the drivers “worked together as a group, we all discussed and made a decision as a sport.”

“I don’t feel a particular way about it,” he added. “I’m looking forward to get out.”

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2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Browse all 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles

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Basic illness prevention



University Health Services has seen an increase in illness caused by adenoviruses,
says Dr. Jason Stacy, interim vice president for health and well-being and chief health
officer. Adenoviruses, which commonly cause cold- and flu-like symptoms, spread through respiratory droplets from an infected person or by touching a surface
where the virus exists.

“While the symptoms most young people experience are manageable with rest, increased
fluids and over-the-counter medications,” Stacy says, “some individuals may have a
more severe illness.”

Fortunately, these infections can be prevented by following a few basic tips:

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizers
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
  • Use bleach-based disinfectant wipes to clean surfaces
  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick
  • Stay home if you are sick

Students who have symptoms that aren’t improving or who are at increased risk of complications
from infections should see a doctor. Make an appointment through MyHealthSpace or call 803-777-8343 to schedule an appointment.


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Revised street closure policy targets safety at larger events

Revised street closure policy targets safety at larger events

Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik on Feb. 21 shared details of the city’s revised street closure policy for larger public events, which may require organizers to fill out applications. The fire chief told council members the goal of the updated policy is to provide a safe environment for all attendees and event holders.

“I think sometimes what people don’t realize is, as an organizer of a larger event where you’re going to have people that are going to be operating in enclosed conditions or in closed streets or they’re going to be operating on the public right-of-ways, there is liability that comes with that,” he said at a recent staff report.

Minimizing liability exposure to the city is another reason staff wanted to revise the policy, which is still in its draft form and is not yet up for council approval. Some big events can carry liability towards the city if something goes wrong. Wellik cited a number of past events inside and outside of Iowa that have gone wrong and why it is important to have such a policy in place.

In 2011, the Indiana State Fair stage collapsed when a wind gust from an approaching storm toppled the roof structure, killing seven people and injuring almost 60 others. Wellik also referenced the November 2021 incident in which a driver allegedly drove his car through a parade route and killed six people.

“Any time you bring people together in tight spaces and they’re operating outside of their normal boundaries of how they operate on roads and so on, we inject that opportunity for something to happen,” Wellik said, also noting that staff would like to limit the impact to transportation in the community when events close streets.

Some occasions would require organizers to request a street closure, which do impede regular traffic. For instance, some streets in town serve as truck routes. When the city decides to close those pathways, staff have to designate new routes and they have to be signed appropriately, Wellik said.

Another aspect of the policy is communication. The city wants to keep all effected parties informed of events in their area. Wellik said staff frequently hear citizens say, “I didn’t know the street was going to be closed” or “I didn’t realize parking was going to not be available during this time.” A revised policy should help.

By filling out an application, too, authorities will have the contact information of organizers. Should something happen during an event, Wellik said public safety officials would be able to get in contact with organizers immediately and carry out contingency plans or mitigate a situation.

The city’s revised policy is intended to target events in excess of 200 people, specifically those that are not contained on private property. Churches that may have larger gatherings on their property, for example, would not be affected unless organizers need use of city right-of-ways.

By having the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Wellik said it has allowed city staff to learn a lot of lessons about how to manage larger scale events.

“We’ve learned some pretty good lessons out there about weather and how it impacts people and how long it takes people to get to shelter and so on,” he said. “Go back to when RAGBRAI was here … We had a storm that moved in and we had to make a decision as it approached. We decided to shut things down.”

It wasn’t a very popular decision, Wellik added, but it is one of those decisions made for the sake of safety. Pre-planning allowed organizers to shuttle people to shelters, at least the ones who chose to take the city up on its offer.

Wellik showed a draft copy of the street closure application, which is intended to be submitted 90 days in advance of the event. If organizers plan greater than 60 days in advance the fee is $25; if it is submitted less than 60 days in advance but still greater than 45 days the fee increases to $100; less than 45 days is $250.

“So there is good incentive here to make sure you’re planning well in advance of these events,” Wellik said.

If the city is given less than 30 days notice for a street closure, Wellik said it is going to be more difficult to plan and it is likely staff would recommend organizers to schedule it for next year. A single application can be submitted for events with multiple dates, such as the Newton Farmers Market or Thunder Nites.

Applications require organizers to submit contact information, start and end times, setup and tear down times, how many people are anticipated to attend and what type of audience they are expecting. Staff also want a map of the event to better understand the impact to the community.

“We want to make sure we’ve got those things identified that need to be completed,” Wellik said.

The city also has a temporary no-parking consent form, which would require organizers to gather signatures from people residing 125 feet from the street closure. Wellik said the city is looking for at least 75 percent approval from the adjacent property owners.

Parking plans will need to be defined, and barricading of streets will have to meet the standards set by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). If not, Wellik said it opens up the city to liability issues. Complex barricading may require organizers to use contractors.

Wellik said the city still wants more input from partner groups and other agencies that are more likely to be affected by the policy. He also stressed the policy’s emphasis on larger events, and not events like block parties – although the city does have a policy for residential block parties.

“None of this really applies to neighborhood block parties, unless you want to close six or eight blocks and do a real knock-down-drag-out where you’re going to affect half the town — that might be a little different,” Wellik said.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com

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Occupational Health and Safety Awareness Training for Supervisors

Occupational Health and Safety Awareness Training for Supervisors

All supervisors in Ontario must complete a basic occupational health and safety awareness training program within one week of performing work as a supervisor. This is required by Ontario Regulation 297/13 “Occupational Health and Safety Awareness Training” made under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”). This 1-hour training session fulfills that requirement.

In this session you will learn about:

  • The duties of employers and supervisors under the OHSA.
  • The duties and rights of workers under the OHSA.
  • The concept of the Internal Responsibility System in relation to the duties of workplace stakeholders.
  • The powers and functions of health and safety representatives and joint health and safety committees under the OHSA.
  • The roles of the Ministry of Labour Training and Skills Development and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in occupational health and safety.
  • How to recognize, assess, control and evaluate workplace hazards.

     

This training does not replace any sector specific, hazard specific, or competency specific training.

For details on our Worker OHS Awareness training session please visit here.

Type

This program will be conducted as a live webinar and will not be recorded

Length

1 hour

Agenda

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (ET) Program

Audience

Managers, supervisors, OHS professionals, in-house legal counsel and business owners

Cost

This session costs $95 + HST per registrant
A secured online payment link will follow after registration

CANCELLATION POLICY

  • Registration fees are not refundable. A credit may be issued in certain circumstances
  • No credits will be issued for no shows
  • No credits will be issued for cancellations less than 24 hours before a course
  • Participants can request a one-time deferral and the credit must be used before the end of the calendar year. Requests for a deferral must be made 24 hours prior to the start of the course. If the course is only offered once that year, the credit can be applied to another OHS course within that same calendar year
  • In the event that Fasken cancels a course, the participant can choose either a credit or a refund for the course amount