Building Reopening- Flushing the Water Pipes
Des Moines Water Works has provided the following guidance for opening buildings that may have been vacant for several weeks or more
Building Reopening- Flushing the Water Pipes
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The latest edition of IAMU's Toolbox Talks - Mental Health is now available. Click here to download it.
Other Toolbox Talk articles are available here. If you have a Toolbox Talk idea, please send it to Margret Meade. Should a tool need to be cleaned that does not have blood or visible bodily fluids on it, Milwaukee® recommends the following protocol. This protocol is subject to the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), OSHA, and those of State and Local health departments. Please follow applicable guidelines of these agencies.
For more information, click here. The Department of Labor has a new two minute video addressing proper donning, user seal check and doffing of a filtering facepiece.
Watch the video here. This guidance is intended for all Americans, whether you own a business, run a school, or want to ensure the cleanliness and safety of your home. Reopening America requires all of us to move forward together by practicing social distancing and other daily habits to reduce our risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19. Reopening the country also strongly relies on public health strategies, including increased testing of people for the virus, social distancing, isolation, and keeping track of how someone infected might have infected other people. This plan is part of the larger United States Government plan and focuses on cleaning and disinfecting public spaces, workplaces, businesses, schools, and can also be applied to your home.
For more information from the CDC, click here. Learn about the OSHA requirements for ANSI-approved safety eyewear for both impact protection and light protection.
Click here to read the EMC Loss Control Insights article. The goal of this Iowa DOT funded program is to provide an avenue for smaller cities, less than 10,000 population, to be able to obtain a basic work zone sign package that is in compliance with the 2009 MUTCD and to make their work zones safer for operations personnel and motorist. It is currently proposed that the materials to be included in the package will be the following:
Each of these will be of the correct type and size for lower speed city street work. All of the devices will include high intensity retro-reflective sheeting suitable for nighttime use. It is expected that approximately 10 cities will be chosen to receive a work zone sign package based on the content of the application submitted by the city and reviewed by the advisory committee. The 10 winning cities for the 2020 program were announced and they are:
Look for the announcement coming in the fall of 2020 for next year’s program! Uncontrolled fire hazards such as hot work, electrical issues, uncovered waste containers and faulty detectors are often overlooked.
To learn more, check out this article from the EMC Loss Control Insights. On April 27, 2020, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new proclamation extending the public health emergency to May 27, 2020.The Iowa Utilities Board issued an Order on March 27, 2020,that restricted the disconnection of utility service to any customers by all electric and natural gas utilities, including municipal, cooperative, and investor-owned, and all investor-owned water utilities until the public health emergency is lifted by Gov. Reynolds. The order also strongly encouraged all water utilities to cease shutoffs of service for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The order issued by the IUB on March 27 is tied to the Governor’s proclamation and therefore, extends the winter moratorium until May 27, 2020. The IUB originally extended the winter moratorium to May 1, 2020, by an emergency order on March 13, 2020, in Docket No.SPU-2020-0003. The order directed all electric and natural gas utilities to cease disconnection of residential service due to nonpayment for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) qualified customers. The emergency order was in response to a statewide disaster proclamation issued by Gov. Reynolds on March 9, 2020.Thousands of Iowans have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak and customers may be struggling to pay utility bills during the pandemic. The IUB urges customers to contact their local utility to discuss a payment arrangement. Customers seeking LIHEAP financial assistance for utility bills, should contact their local community action agency to discuss eligibility. The IUB continues to encourage all customers to continue paying toward their energy bills to avoid accumulating high debt and avoid facing utility service disconnection as the moratorium ends on May 27, 2020. Income-eligible Iowans typically have until April 30 each year to apply for limited financial heating assistance through the LIHEAP program. The application deadline was extended to May 31, 2020, this year by the Iowa Department of Human Rights (IDPH). Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statewide disaster proclamation of public health emergency on March 9, 2020, due to the global novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In response to the March 9, 2020 proclamation, the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) issued an order on March 13, 2020, extending the winter moratorium for eligible electric and natural gas customers from April 1, 2020, to May 1, 2020. This extension prevented disconnection of eligible customers until after May 1, 2020. The IUB issued an additional order on March 27, 2020, extending the moratorium until such a time as Gov. Reynolds disaster proclamation is lifted. Today’s IUB order is another step in a series of actions by the IUB to provide assistance to customers and utilities and to aid in Iowa’s recovery. Through its prior orders, the IUB has restricted the disconnection of utility customers. As such restrictions on disconnection come to an end, coordination is needed among the IUB, utilities, and partner agencies to minimize ramifications while assuring both safe, reliable service to customers and just and reasonable compensation to the utilities. The order finds the use of regulatory accounts by rate-regulated utilities is appropriate for the tracking of financial impacts arising after March 1, 2020, from the COVID-19 pandemic. The order requires the following:
The IUB also finds in light of the expansion of the current disconnection moratorium and the additional economic impacts noted above, additional information is needed from Iowa utilities. The IUB has directed the utilities to file updates in regard to specific disconnection and payment plan information for residential, commercial, and industrial customers starting May 15, 2020, through April 15, 2021, as follows:
The IUB also requests through September 4, 2020, that all municipal electric, natural gas and water utilities, rural electric cooperatives and rural water association provide the following information to the IUB every two weeks:
Dependent upon the rate-regulated utilities evolving workforce availability and access to homes and offices, parties may need to seek waivers from the IUB to delay required regulatory actions. The IUB continues to monitor conditions to determine when such extensions or waivers may be appropriate. |
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