I recently had the opportunity to visit Alcoa in Warrick County. With my background in manufacturing and production, I was interested in Alcoa’s operations and learning more about this successful, local business. Knowing that June is National Safety Month, I was also intrigued by Alcoa’s dedication to maintaining a safe working environment by going above and beyond the required safety standards to implement the best practices for their employees’ needs. While touring the facility, I learned that in a five year period, ending in 2014, the plant had a recordable Occupational Safety and Health Administration rate of 1.8, lower than the national average.
National Safety Month is not only a time to think about workplace safety, but also safety in the community, and oftentimes, these issues overlap. As a legislator, I am dedicated to supporting legislation that protects our community and increases safety measures for hardworking Hoosiers. This session, we passed multiple measures to increase workplace safety, particularly for our public safety personnel through increased training; training which will benefit our communities as well.
For example, House Enrolled Act 1182 allows the Division of Fire and Building Safety to establish a fire and public safety academy training system. Similar to Indiana’s current Law Enforcement Academy, this will help create uniform training standards for firefighters across Indiana, in an effort to decrease the number of civilian fire fatalities while also decreasing injury amongst those who protect and serve.
The division will be able to develop programs in conjunction with other organizations and education institutions to create and conduct the most beneficial programs for training public safety personnel. Training currently varies for firefighters from one community to another which can unintentionally hinder cooperation between different units. This legislation will especially help rural communities, like ours, who often find it difficult to attend a centrally located academy.
Another new law, which will go into effect on July 1, requires police reserve officers to complete mandatory in-service training to help them interact with those who have a mental illness, addictive disorder, intellectual disability, autism, developmental disabilities, dementia and more. Police reserve officers will also receive training concerning human trafficking and high-risk, missing persons. This training provides reserve officers with a better understanding of how to best help members of our community that are affected by these circumstances, creating a safer environment for both them and the officer.
I am pleased with our work this session to increase public safety, and I am proud to have an upstanding company, such as Alcoa, in our community. Since June is National Safety Month, I encourage you to spend some time in the coming weeks thinking about ways that you too can increase the safety of our local community. I encourage you to contact me with ideas on how we can work together to achieve this goal. I can be reached anytime by phone at 317-232-9671 or by email at h78@iga.in.gov.
Rep. Sullivan (R-Evansville) represents portions of Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.
Interim study committees help legislators make thorough examinations of important issues and make better informed decisions on legislation before the next session. School testing and problems faced by offenders when attempting to find employment after being released are among the many topics to be studied.