Safety Management
FY 2023 Annual Budget
Department Description
The City's Safety Department focuses on the reduction of lost-time injuries, preventing workplace injury/illnesses, preventing vehicle collisions and damage to City/private property by continuing a safety awareness culture. The Safety Department provides direction, education, and training on best safety practices, and communicates with department leadership/employees on lessons learned and near misses. In addition, the Safety Department manages the property claims for the City of Victoria.
Organization Chart
Department Mission
Enhancing Livability is our calling, but our true passion lies in supporting our workforce and creating an environment for our employees to thrive. With everything that we do, we look to create a working environment that stimulates team spirit, passion, engagement, innovation, fulfillment, safety, and achievement, and to instill a performance culture based upon making the City of Victoria the Employer of Choice.
Goals and Objectives
FY 2022 Highlights
Continued support for the City of Victoria response to COVID, while managing on-going responses for the Delta Variant and the Omicron Variant. This overall support included return-to-work screening processes and scheduling employee testing.
Participation in City's emergency response for community events.
Provided various safety training courses for City departments, including driving safety, workzone training, and certified tower climbing training.
Developed internal program for management of property claims.
Supported return-to-work processes for employees who have been away from work due to an injury/illness.
EMR - The Experience Modification Rating (EMR) is a metric used by insurance carriers to gauge both the past cost of liability and workers’ compensation claims and the future probability of additional claim costs.
Departmental Efficiencies
FY 2023 New Program/Initiatives
Develop on-line accident report as part of the NeoGov eforms platform.
Continue to implement program for new entry level driving training for CDL license holders.
Reorganize department to encompass all aspects of Risk Management.
FY 2023 Budget Highlights
The Safety budget request equals $173,707, an increase of $20,128 or 13.1 percent, compared to Fiscal Year 2022 Adopted Budget, $153,579. The Fiscal Year 2023 budget includes $753 in one-time expense and $170,762 in recurring expense, an increase of $17,183 or 11.2 percent, from last year's recurring budget.
Personnel increase is the net result of an increase of $1,941 in baseline adjustments and an increase of $11,798 for Phase III of the Compensation Plan. (Baseline adjustments: include payroll reorganizations, new hires, retirements that took place in the prior fiscal year, as well as longevity and TMRS rate that will be captured in this fiscal year.)
An increase in Maintenance and Operations includes an increase in City-wide training to accommodate the new CDL requirements, and an increase in expenses related to DOT Mandatory Drug Tests and Fit for Duty Evaluations.
Total Expenditures for Corresponding Fiscal Year Presented
- No major changes in recent years.
Department High-Level Descriptions of Personnel:
Safety Specialist (1) - Responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing the City's safety program in a way that reduces or eliminates occupational injuries, illnesses, and liability claims to the City. Duties include developing and implementing a safety program that encourages a proactive safety culture to include policies, training, safety assessments, etc. Duties also include working closely with departmental safety initiatives, managing workers' compensation claims, and being a resource to City departments and personnel on various safety items. Work is performed under the direction of the Human Resources Director.
Administrative Assistant III (1) - Performs administrative duties to provide efficient operation of the Human Resources and Safety Departments.
Recommended/Not Recommended List
*** NOTE: Other items have been requested, however, they are not listed below due to the fact that the amount requested is in line for normal operating funding. ***