Beech Grove Fire Department & Professional Firefighters Local 416
Receive Governor's Award

Governor's Workplace Safety Awards The Indiana Department of Labor, in conjunction with Governor Joe Kernan, awarded the Beech Grove Fire Department and the Professional Firefighters Local 416 the Governor's Workplace Safety Award for Partnership. This award recognizes the most innovative safety and health initiatives among Indiana's workplaces. Applicants had to show a strong commitment to workplace safety and health through proactive innovation, education and work practices. The awards focused on what works best at eliminating job-related accidents and illnesses, and maintaining a safe and healthful workplace.  Beech Grove Fire Department and the Professional Firefighters Local 416 is the first fire department partnership to receive this award in the State of Indiana.

From the Left: Trustee Mike Morris, Operations Chief Elbert Davidson, Injury Prevention Chief Rob Cheshire, Board of Safety Bob White, District President Gary Coons, & Fire Chief Dennis Buckley

Eligibility

All Indiana businesses, industrial facilities, individuals, institutions, municipalities, schools, service organizations, trade unions, and nonprofit organizations are eligible for the Governor's Workplace Safety Awards. To qualify nominees must be in compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations.

The awards are open to all organizations, regardless of size or number of employees. The review committee recognizes the limited resources of small facilities and evaluates the overall effectiveness of the program, process, or technique, relative to facility size.

Award Category

Partnerships

This award honors community, labor-management and other partnerships established and maintained in order to create a more desirable workplace culture by reducing illness and injury. Applicants should demonstrate how the partnership was empowered and the reason for its creation. A strong working commitment by each partner should be demonstrated.

The success of a partnership should be evidenced through positive achievements attained. The effects of this partnership may be demonstrated through lost work day incidence (LWDI) rates, OSHA 200 logs or Workers' Compensation modifier rate data. Other measurements are also encouraged, as this award hopes to advance all forms of innovation achieved through partnership.

Application Process

1. Description Describe your program, process, or technique. What are you doing? For whom are you doing it? Why did you choose to do it? How and when was it implemented? How is it funded?
2. Explanation of Innovation Why is this program, process or technique unique or innovative? What kind of barriers had to be overcome for implementation? Describe progressive ideas, methods, materials or implementation strategies.
3. Safety and Health Benefits What safety and health benefits resulted from the implementation of the innovation, partnership, education/outreach, or technology transfer? Include a detailed explanation of the direct benefits as well as any unanticipated benefits that were achieved.
4. Measurable Results Describe any measurable results that can be used to quantify the success of your innovation, partnership, education or technology transfer.
5. Economic Returns Describe any economic benefits, such as increased productivity, cost savings, sales increases or workforce impacts. Include any unanticipated benefits that were achieved.
6. Social Benefits Describe any social benefits, such as increased morale or reduced waste. Include any unanticipated benefits that were achieved.
7. Management Commitment Describe how employees, volunteers and the public are empowered to reduce safety and health problems in the workplace. How does management encourage and/or reward employee innovations?

Statement Provided to the Department of Labor

The Beech Grove Fire Department has made positive changes to workplace safety over the last four to five years. The Beech Grove Professional Firefighters Association became the recognized agent for the firefighters of Beech Grove five years ago. Since that time, the Fire Chief has recognized the Health & Safety Committee within the local as the committee who oversees the programs and objectives with the health and safety of our firefighters. As seen in the policies of the Beech Grove Fire Department, attached to this document, under section 500 the Beech Grove Professional Firefighters Health and Safety committee oversees program such as Flu Vaccines, Employee Physical Ability Testing for incumbents and new hires, Mandated Physicals, Mask Fit Test to meet NFPA and OSHA Standards, new Hepatitis C Testing, Physical Fitness Monitoring, St. Francis Wellness Programs (Time Management, Stress Management, and EAP are examples), Self Contained Breathing Apparatus Fit Testing, Tuberculosis Screening, and Blood-borne Pathogens. This initiative in Health and Safety has provided great progression in Labor Management Partnership for the City of Beech Grove.

Currently the professional firefighters of Beech Grove Local 416 are seeking funding alternatives to help provide physical fitness facilities at each station. Due to the work schedule and the uncertainty of emergency runs, physical fitness facilities located at each station would allow firefighters to work out to decrease the risk of heart attacks, which is the number one cause of firefighter fatalities and disabilities. Preserving the past and Protecting the Future.

Occupational Fatalities Due to Heart Attack Occupation Deaths per 100,000 Workers All Private Industry 0.43 Construction 2.06 Transportation 1.20 Agriculture .48 Wholesale/Retail Trade .27 Services .25 Manufacturing .20