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April is Safe Digging Month

3/29/2018

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In support of April as National Safe Digging Month, the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities joins the Iowa Utilities Board, Common Ground Iowa, and Iowa One Call, in reminding Iowa communities to be safe, help protect underground utility lines, and always call 811 before any digging projects.
 
Gov. Kim Reynolds has also signed a proclamation inn support of safe digging practices in Iowa and proclaiming April as National Safe Digging Month.
 
Calling 811 is toll-free. Locating lines can save lives, prevent accidents to underground utility infrastructure, and avoid injuries, costly repairs, and fines.
 
Iowa law, Iowa Code chapter 480, Underground Facilities Information, requires that a resident or professional excavator contact Iowa One Call at 811 or 1-800-292-8989 at least two days before digging begins to mark the location of all utility lines. Iowa’s One Call center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
 
The following will occur once Iowa One Call is contacted:
  • Operators with underground utility facilities in the area where the excavation is planned are notified. This includes natural gas and electric power utilities, communications companies, water lines, and cities and towns.
  • Within 48 hours after being contacted, utilities either mark their underground facilities with color-coded paint marks or flags, or tell the excavator they have no lines in the area.
 
If a contractor is performing the excavation work, a person should make sure the contractor calls Iowa One Call two days before excavating starts.
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NEW Job Description Templates Added

3/27/2018

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IAMU has created three new Job Description Templates for members to use when creating job descriptions for position postings and for general use.
 
The new job description templates include ones for:
  • Customer Service Clerk / Billing Specialist / Payroll Clerk / Accounts Payable Clerk / Accounts Receivable Clerk and other typical business office functions
  • Maintenance Worker including Heavy Equipment Operation
  • Solid Waste Collection

This brings the number of available templates to nine. The other templates include ones for:
  • Electric Lineworker
  • Water Plant Operator/Technician
  • Power Plant Operator
  • Telecom/ Broadband Technician
  • Gas/Water/Wastewater Superintendent or Technician
  • Public Works/Streets/Maintenance Worker
 
The intent of providing Job Description Templates is to allow IAMU members to develop, enhance, or replace existing job descriptions. The detailed job descriptions allow for:
  • Better recruitment – enables you to identify the right person for each job. Detailed job descriptions clarify employer expectations for job candidates and identify essential job functions and physical requirements.
  • Better compensation systems – allows for accurate job and skill comparisons so you can create fair and logical pay and grading systems. Detailed job descripitons can also serve as a reference tool in employee/employer disputes.
  • Better performance evaluation – enables you to make evaluations based on objective versus subjective criteria.
  • Better people planning – allows you to make skill-based hiring and succession planning decisions.
  • Better legal compliance – helps your utility to stay in compliance with many laws and help defend lawsuits related to hiring or termination.
  • Objective criteria for managing return-to-work situations – following both workplace and non-work injuries and illnesses
 
The templates are available to all IAMU members for free. Safety Group Insurance Program participants can also receive complimentary consulting assistance in using the templates from Dave Eaton, IAMU Risk Improvement Representative. If you are not an insurance program participant, there is a nominal fee for the added consulting services.
 
To access the templates, go to www.iamu.org, sign in as a member*, go to the “Resources” section, and then to “Job Description Templates.” There you will find instructions on how to use the templates as well as the editable templates.
 
*If you need your member sign-in information, contact Josh Trout at jtrout@iamu.org.
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Volunteer's Needed for Children's Water Festival

3/27/2018

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It’s time once again for the Annual Iowa Children’s Water Festival, and the committee needs your help. The Water Festival will take place on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at the Des Moines Area Community College Ankeny Campus. Approximately 2,200 5th grade students from around Iowa have registered for the festival. We will need more than 200 volunteers to make this event happen. To learn more about volunteer opportunities and to sign up, click here.
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Four Surprising Nighttime Driving Hazards

3/27/2018

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Driving at night can be challenging, and many drivers don’t realize they must adjust their daytime driving styles. To learn more about some common roadway risks and how to mitigate them, check out this article in EMC Insurance’s Loss Control Insights.
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IPAIT Deadlines Due to Upcoming Holiday

3/26/2018

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The financial markets are closed each year on Good Friday while the banks remain open. IPAIT is closed to transactions due to the financial markets being closed. This year Good Friday falls on what would be the last business day of the quarter in addition to being the county property tax payment due date.  We wanted to give you a heads up to initiate your transactions for settlements no later than Thursday, March 29th.  ACH transactions must be in the system by 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 28 and wire transactions must be in the system by 10 a.m. Thursday, March 29 for settlement prior to the quarter end and the long weekend.
 
The daily interest rate on IPAIT’s liquid fund has continued to increase throughout the year.  The rate on January 1 was 1.10% and as of this writing is 1.32%. We encourage you to regularly monitor the rate on the home page of IPAIT.org and compare that to what your funds are earning.
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Attracting Young Talent

3/21/2018

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Over the last decade or so, utilities have been aware that they will need to attract the next generation of workers to replace an aging workforce. Here is a link to an interesting article on the topic from the American Public Power Association. IAMU will be covering this issue in the next IAMU Connection magazine, due out in June. If your utility has any programs in place to attract the next generation of utilities workers and you would like to be included in the upcoming IAMU article, email Jen Cronin at jcronin@iamu.org.
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Volunteers Needed for Children's Water Festival

3/21/2018

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It’s time once again for the Annual Iowa Children’s Water Festival, and the committee needs your help. The Water Festival will take place on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at the Des Moines Area Community College Ankeny Campus. Approximately 2,200 5th grade students from around Iowa have registered for the festival. We will need more than 200 volunteers to make this event happen. To learn more about volunteer opportunities and to sign up, click here.
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2018 CCR Workshops

3/20/2018

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Do you need help completing the Consumer Confidence Report? If so, this workshop is for you! The goal of the workshop is for each participant to leave with an understanding, or refresher, of what the CCR is and why it needs to be completed.

The CCR workshops will be held on the dates/locations below:
  • April 17: Alta
    Community Building, 27 N. Lake St. (N. of Hwy. 7, W. of Buena Vista Raceway)

  • April 18: Mason City
    Lime Creek Nature Center, 3501 Lime Creek Rd. (N. edge of Mason City off Hwy. 65)

  • April 19: Independence
    Falcon Civic Center, 1305 5th Avenue NE

  • April 20: North Liberty
    North Liberty Community Center, 520 W. Cherry St. (Exit 4 from I-380, right onto  250th St./W. Penn St., right onto IA-965, left onto W. Cherry)

  • April 24: Ankeny
    IAMU Training & Office Complex, 1735 NE 70th Ave

  • April 26: Atlantic
    Elks Lodge, 501 Poplar, 3rd Floor

Important! Please bring the following items to the workshop:
  • IDNR Draft CCR mailed in March 2018
  • If you operate a surface water system: You must bring your turbidity
    information. Highest single measurement and the lowest monthly
    percentage of samples meeting turbidity limits from 2017 calendar year
  • If you add Fluoride, bring the highest and lowest lab results from 2017
  • Jump (flash) drive for ease of saving

Hope to see you there!
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Attention Gas Members: 2018 O&M Updates & Revisions

3/19/2018

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There are no new PHMSA or IUB rule makings to address; however, substantial changes were made. 
 
The biggest change: Division 3, the Emergency Plan, is now separate from the O&M and is its own document. Not many changes are made to the Emergency Plan from year to year. Having it as a separate document will allow you to finalize the Emergency Plan and not have to transfer it over from year to year when O&M changes are made. This change will also make it easier to distribute the Emergency Plan in the appropriate places, such as utility vehicles, utility offices, etc. Note: All Gas Employees must be familiar with and understand the Emergency Plan requirements.
 
Additional changes to the O&M include (just to name a few):
  • A meter installation diagram showing installation 3 foot from any ignition sources.
  • PHMSA code requirements that were omitted in previous years.
  • EFV-installation requirements.
  • Many new recordkeeping forms to allow for easier documentation.
 
Reminder: Your Board or Council must adopt both the O&M and Emergency Plan revisions. Also, be sure to review the O&M and Emergency Plan changes with your employees so everyone is aware of the changes. As always, document the O&M and Emergency Plan review and training. 
 
Numerous changes made to the O&M in the last few years, but IAMU is working hard to keep the manuals current and address everything that Code requires so our members have all of the resources available to stay compliant with regulations. IAMU will host a webinar on Thursday, March 29 at 9:30 a.m. to review/discuss O&M and Emergency Plan changes. IAMU will send information this week about the webinar to all gas members.
 
If you have any comments, concerns, or suggestions about the O&M or Emergency Plan, contact Nick Vandegriff, IAMU Gas Services & Compliance Specialist, at 641.919.8411 or by email at nvandegriff@iamu.org.
 
Note: Check your email. All gas members should have received an email from Nick that included a Word and PDF version of the 2018 O&M and 2018 Emergency Plan to download and print. He also attached a “changes tracker” – an Excel spreadsheet of the changes. There are two tabs at the bottom – one tab is for the O&M changes and the other for the Emergency Plan changes.
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IAMU Mobile Crane Operator Certification Classes & Exams - 2018

3/14/2018

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The Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities Safety Services department will be holding mobile crane certification and examination classes for digger derrick, service truck, and mobile crane operators.  OSHA’s updated crane standard REQUIRES that operators of lifting equipment be trained, evaluated and tested in order to obtain certification.

Background Information:
Although the new standard, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC, specifically exempts the digger derrick and the operator from meeting the requirements of the standard, the exemption applies only when it is used for work within the provisions of the power generation, transmission and distribution standards, or for construction work within the telecommunications standard.  The exemption does not apply if the digger derrick is used for lifting materials or to operate in working environments outside the scope of the standard because the equipment is essentially being used as a mobile crane.  For example, unloading materials from a truck, lifting a motor from a pump house to assist your water department, or providing assistance to any other city department will mean that the exemption no longer applies.  When equipment is used as a mobile crane, all provisions of the standard apply, including the operator certification rule.  OSHA also now requires that an operator be certified in specific areas when they operate equipment outfitted with a boom and winch and able to lift at least 2,000 pounds.  This includes service trucks in your public works, or water departments. 

OSHA’s November 10, 2018 deadline for crane operators to have completed a certification status is quickly approaching.  The new standard has very specific operator requirements, one being to obtain operator certification from an independent testing organization accredited by a nationally recognized organization.  OSHA’s updated crane standard, 1926.1427 in Subpart CC, requires that for a testing organization to be considered accredited to certify operators, it must be accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency based on that agency’s determination that industry recognized criteria for written testing materials, practical examinations, test administration, grading, facilities/equipment and personnel have been met.  IAMU is an Accredited Assessment Center through the National Center for Construction Education Research (NCCER).  We are authorized to conduct both hands-on assessments and practical examinations which are part of our Mobile Crane Operator Certification Program.  Additionally, we are offering Qualified Hand Signal Person and Qualified Rigger programs (available at a future date).

Who Should Attend:
Digger derrick and service truck crane operators who do not currently hold a mobile crane operator’s certification.

What Do These Classes and Certification Consist Of:
Classes will be a week long, requiring classroom instruction, an on-line exam that has a 80% pass requirement, a practical exam for certification of mobile crane, and then finally a short class and practical exam for the signalperson and rigging qualifications. Students who pass the written and practical exams receive nationally recognized certification from the National Center for Construction Education Research (NCCER).

Where Do These Classes Take Place:
IAMU Training and Office Complex
1735 NE 70th Avenue
Ankeny, IA  50021


When Will Classes Be Held:
Dates have been scheduled for 2018 at the IAMU complex.  Please click HERE or visit the IAMU website for available dates.
 
March 26-30, 2018
Class: March 26-28
Exams: March 29 & 30
Location: IAMU
 
June 18-22, 2018
Class: June 18-20
Exams: June 21 & 22
Location: IAMU
 
June 25-29, 2018
Class: June 25-27
Exams: June 28 & 29
Location: IAMU
 
July 23-27, 2018
Class: July 23-25
Exams: July 26 & 27
Location: IAMU

August 20-24, 2018
Class: August 20-22
Exams: August 23 & 24
Location: IAMU


Mobile Crane Operator Certification/Examination Class Schedule:
 
Monday
9:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Classroom

Tuesday & Wednesday
8:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Classroom

Thursday
8:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Exams

Friday (if needed)
8:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Exams

Class/Exam
Examination retakes must be scheduled with IAMU.  (An additional cost of $100 applies to exam retakes)

Additional Notes:
  • Registration is open.  There is a maximum of 16 participants per class session.
  • Lunch will be provided on classroom days.
  • All participants will attend classroom days. Exams will take place on the Thursday of each class session. Depending on the number of participants, Wednesday evening and Friday may also be used for exams.
  • Study guides will be mailed to registered participants prior to class dates.

For additional information about the classes and online registration for each event, click HERE.

Questions?
If you have any questions in regards to the classes, or requirements, please contact:
Margret Meade, IAMU Safety Specialist (mmeade@iamu.org)
Dan Llewellyn, IAMU Electric Services Coordinator (dllewellyn@iamu.org)
Phone:  (800) 810-4268
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