Sonoma State University

Campus-wide Safety Committee Meeting Minutes November 4, 2021

Minutes

Committee

Campus-wide Safety

Meeting Date

Thursday, November 4th, 2021

Attendance: Ruth LeBlanc, Christy Gorman, Erin Taylor, Tyson Hill, Karl Mortenson, Missy Brunetta, Dennis Goss, Michael Eynon, Celeste McLaughlin, Jordan Lundberg,  Lauren Antoni, Ryan Henne, Kelley Greene, Julie Barnes

  1. Meeting was called to order at 9:04 AM.
  2. Review of minutes from the previous month were approved as written at 9:04 AM.
  3. Accident & Near Miss Review (Workers’ Compensation)
    1. Celeste reported one accident in the past month; a leg injury that occurred at Cal Skate during a staff development event.
  4. Standing reports:
    1. Sonoma State University Police Dept – In the past month there was a juvenile possession of marijuana, two off campus DUIs, a sexual assault that occurred out of state, a sexual battery that occurred on multiple locations on campus, a threat from a non-student to a student on campus that was forwarded to the DA’s office, a separate battery incident, a stalking case that doesn’t look credible, various thefts, and the response for the Nichols/Carson electrical fire.
    2. EH&S- Numerous programmatic updates have been underway, to include collaboration with Kelley Greene from Facilities on the Confined Space program. The Annual Report to the Chancellor’s Office reflects great improvements in many health and safety metrics, EH&S is very appreciative of the partnerships that exist across numerous departments.
    3. Facilities Management- Not present; Jordan mentioned that Facilities has been responding to flooding and other weather-based priorities.
    4. Student Affairs- The National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness activities wrapped up last week. Student Affairs has a working group updating the annual DAPP report, which can be found here: https://studentaffairs.sonoma.edu/drug-abuse-and-alcohol-prevention-program-daapp Reach worked with Chief Oweis to send out an email to the campus population regarding safe practices during Halloween activities.
    5. Disability Services for Students- Michael recently met with Dennis and Nicole with Facilities to clear out old furniture being stored unnecessarily. He will continue efforts with Madison. Celeste asked if there were more standing desks available in support of the return to campus in January. Michael was unaware of any, although Ruth mentioned that there is one in the old EH&S office in the Corp Yard.
    6. CSUEU- Dennis Goss made the group aware of an ongoing issue with regards to a homeless individual accessing the 24 hour lab at night to use the restroom, and illegally parking in the adjacent parking lot. This area is typically unmanned and there are offices local to the area that could be accessed. Tyson verified that the Police Chief was aware of the situation.
    7. Teamsters- No update
  5. Emergency Services
    1. The October rains were a historic weather event, with 8 inches recorded in a 24 hour period. With that, we are officially out of firestorm season.
    2. COVID 19-
      1. There was a slight increase of Covid cases affecting the campus population. Thus far there have been 43 employee cases (3-5 active), 190 student cases (15-20 active), and 5 contractor cases. The transmission factors are 1.1 for employees and 1.5 for students, ideally those numbers should be less than 1.
      2. The largest demographic driving new Covid cases are unvaccinated children. 94.17% of the student population has been vaccinated, that number is going to rise to 99% when part time students fall off of the reporting criteria. Employee vaccination rate is 75%, but that number is artificially low because not all represented employees are required to report their status.
      3. Recent guidance allowing groups of up to 100 fully vaccinated individuals to be indoors without masks was mistakenly applied to classroom settings. Classroom settings do not meet the definition because they are not fixed cohorts, the students migrate to other classes. This policy is intended for small businesses etc.
      4. EMS is working with University leadership to for testing criteria for non-vaccinated employees.
      5. Vaccination boosters are available for virtually anyone that wants one, there is currently not enough demand for the University to establish a booster clinic. Dennis asked what criteria is necessary for the University to establish a booster clinic, and Missy answered that the definition of high risk would need to broaden to include employees at the University, but commented that it was relatively easy to schedule through your health care provider and encouraged everyone to exercise that option first.
    3. Other business- PSPS’s are being monitored actively by EMS, with concern for employees impacted at home. She reminded employees that there are still touchdown stations available. Emergency plans are being updated and are available to employees. Missy warned that the fire season conditions were drier than previous years. Building evacuation drills and emergency notification tests will be occurring at the end of August. There is a Safety Fair scheduled for September 9th, more info to follow.
  6. New Business from members / Roundtable Discussion-
    1. Julie Barnes asked about faculty travelling in the hybrid work environment, commenting that she had employees travelling internationally while maintaining their work schedules remotely. She also mentioned that some faculty are indicating that they won’t return on January 3rd per the current University guidance. Julie commented that Academic Affairs should be represented at this meeting.
      1. Missy responded that any individual travelling should be following the federal guidance regarding vaccination status, quarantine obligations, etc. The University had no additional authority over that.
      2. Erin commented that the University will likely have some form of hybrid authorization in place beyond January 3rd, but there is every indication that employees generally need to work from the campus. Julie asked what entity is responsible for enforcing that policy to willful dissenters, and Erin replied that it would be an HR issue.
      3. Missy commented that the University would likely put out guidance going into the holidays regarding travel and the return to work schedule.
    2. Julie Barnes mentioned that faculty would likely want to check ongoing research projects when the power is shut off in December. SGT Mortenson with Sonoma State PD mentioned that they could send a schedule to the PD general email and they could escort them into the buildings, as there would be no fire watch in place when the power is shut off. Accessing the facilities for short durations during the planned power outage should be no problem with coordination. EMS agreed.