Episode 3

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Published on:

31st May 2024

Episode 3: Slips, Trips, Falls and, the Safety Officer

Thank you so much for listening to Episode 3: Slips, Trips, Falls, and the Safety Officer. You can find an episode summary, takeaways, and the resources mentioned in this episode below!

This months episode delves into the most common accident that takes places at our churches: slip, trips, and falls. Join Hunter Pettis and Bianca Madanat as they discuss the importance of preventing these accidents and highlight the role of a safety committee and safety officer in ensuring church safety. This episode also covers practical ways to promote safety and risk management at your church.

Takeaways

  • The leading causes of costly accidents at churches are slip, trips, and falls, which can be prevented through intentional risk management.
  • The role of a safety committee and safety officer is crucial in identifying and addressing hazards to ensure church safety.
  • A holistic approach to risk management involves the active participation of pastors, elders, church board members, and other ministry leaders to promote safety within our churches.
  • Forming a safety committee, conducting self-inspections, and utilizing resources on our website like the Risk Training Center to enhance risk management knowledge and practices.

Sound Bites

  • "When you are a risk manager, your radar expands and your eye gets trained to spot these things immediately."
  • "The ones we see the most are the ones that involve stairs, going downstairs. What contributes to these types of injuries is railing missing, poor lighting, or cracked steps."

Chapters

03:17 Understanding Hazard Management and Prevention

11:04 The Role of a Safety Officer in Risk Management

27:27 The Importance of Self-Inspection and Safety Committees

Resources:

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Church Self-Inspection Form

The Safety Officers Responsibilities

The Church Safety Committee

Risk Training Center

Safety Officer Resources

Maintenance Resources

 

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Transcript
Speaker:

back to another episode of Let's Talk

Solutions.

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I'm your host, Hunter Pettis, and I'm so

glad you're here with us today.

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As always, we want to use this time to

talk about risk management topics at a

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very basic level in a way that is

accessible and practical.

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Today, we delve into the world of hazard

management, encouraging you to step

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lightly as we discuss the common causes of

slip

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trips and falls.

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We will spend time with my guests today

exploring practical tips to prevent these

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accidents.

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We'll talk about common risks that we've

seen throughout the years and how you can

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ensure your church can stay on your feet.

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Now I know that might sound silly but when

you take a moment to look at all the ways

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accidents can stem from slips, trips and

falls it can create some serious

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repercussions.

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But before we get too far, I want to

introduce you all to today's guest.

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She's one of ARM's distinguished account

executives.

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She's been with ARM for five years, a

professional that has a plethora of

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insurance designations, the AINs, the ARM,

the CPCU, just to name a few.

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She's predominantly facing clients and

frontline ministries, either through

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direct interaction, training, claims, and

risk scenario conversations such as these.

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She's fluent in four languages.

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She's a mother of two and loves

photography, flower design, and reading.

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Without further ado, I'd like to welcome

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Good morning, Vian.

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It's a pleasure to be here.

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I am very delighted that you chose me for

this task, and I believe I have a wealth

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of knowledge and experiences that I can

share and we can use to highlight the

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importance of keeping the premises of our

churches safe.

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Absolutely.

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It's a pleasure.

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It's a pleasure to have you here.

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I know you are a wealth of knowledge and

stories that you can share with our

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clients today.

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So we look forward to having this

conversation.

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When it comes to slips, trips and falls,

it's one of our leading causes of costly

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accidents for the churches, schools,

camps, office facilities, you name it.

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A lot of these.

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accidents can result from, I know slippery

surfaces, even myself, I've experienced

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going to an office building during the

winter and in the parking lot not being

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salted properly, you know, could could

have easily gone into a much different

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direction.

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I managed to keep my balance, but it's

easy.

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It's something that's overlooked a lot of

times and

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Just in general, what has been your

experience, maybe even some stories that

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you've heard regarding slip trips and

falls since you've been with Aaron?

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Yeah.

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So just like you mentioned, slips, trips

and fall are the leading general liability

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claim that we receive in our files.

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This is very frequent and we do not talk

about it enough.

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And the great thing about this type of

claim is that it can be prevented.

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This is a situation that can be totally

avoided.

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But for that,

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We need to be intentional.

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We need to have that person that is

designated to watching the area, taking

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notes, making sure that everything is in a

working condition to prevent these types

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of incidents.

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And being one that happens very

frequently, that means there are also many

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causes that can contribute to

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this type of injury, this type of loss.

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So when we talk about slips, trips and

fall, we look at it from two perspectives.

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The ones that are totally preventable and

the ones that are purely accidental.

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And those are, for example, somebody

walking too fast down the stairs, they

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miss a step, they fall, they hurt

themselves or they lose their balance,

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right?

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Or somebody who is running, they shouldn't

be running, but they are, they're trying

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to get from one point to another.

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They want to do it fast.

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They run and they lose their balance and

they fall.

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Or somebody tripping on somebody's foot or

something that obstructs their way.

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So these are totally accidental, right?

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These are not things that you can prevent.

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But what I want to talk about is the

situation that we can totally control.

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And we can do that through monitoring,

through consistent inspecting, through

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making sure that we have that person, that

sole job is to make sure that we do not

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give rise to these kinds of situations.

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So I'm going to give some examples for

this category, the ones that are totally

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preventable.

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For example, sleeping on steps that are

slippery, that are worn out, and they

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can...

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easily cause somebody to sleep and hurt

themselves.

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And how can we prevent that?

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Non -sleep material, fixing the steps that

are chipped or broken, having a mat on the

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steps, making sure that mat is not moving,

or sleeping on wet floor.

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When we have a wet floor, make sure that

that area is contained, that there are

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signs that you direct traffic away from

that hazard that you just created by

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having that floor wet.

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Another example is tripping on electrical

cords.

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How many times we see these rogue

electrical cords running from A to B and

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are a serious hazard.

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Another example happened outside of our

churches.

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We are looking at our sidewalks.

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We have people who get injured on the

sidewalks because we fail to maintain

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them, to keep them.

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I sanded clean.

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We do not fix potholes or tree roots.

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Sometimes they lift the pavement and they

cause cracks and unevenness in the

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pavement.

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It doesn't take a lot for somebody's foot

to get caught causing them to lose their

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balance, trip and fall.

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And when we talk about slips, trips and

fall, you wouldn't think of a very high

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impact injury but...

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it can lead to a lot of serious injuries.

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To name a few, you have fractures, you

have dislocated knees, hips, shoulder.

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When you have a fractured hip, you can

imagine the length of time it'll take for

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that person to get restored to name one

thing, but also the financial implication

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to get them restored.

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So there are many implications.

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that we can control through monitoring,

through keeping our premises safe.

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And I want to take the time to give some

examples of high impact losses that could

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have been totally prevented.

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So picture this, we have a Sabbath service

that have ended and everybody is moving

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towards the fellowship hall that is in the

basement.

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And we have a very elderly gentleman

trying to get

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down the steps and go to the basement.

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And of course he slips and he falls and

there was no railing.

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And in an attempt for him to steady his

foot, he grabs his spouse that was behind

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him and they both ended up falling down

the stairs, severely injuring themselves.

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And when this loss happened, we had an

adjuster visit area and they visited

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the...

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the steps where it happened, the accident

place, and they noticed that there were

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signs that a rail used to be there.

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And they asked them, where's the railing?

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What happened here?

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And they said, well, the railing is in the

attic.

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We chose to take it out so that we can

allow for more space because the pathway

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is very narrow.

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So here we have a clear example where we

failed to...

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to provide for that added safety.

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We needed a rail.

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We need a rail to have for people to grab

onto and steady their foot in case there's

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something.

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It wasn't there.

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It was just removed.

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So another scenario is we had a claim

where people tripped on a lifting carpet

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or a missing tile.

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You know, their foot gets tangled in the

fabric and then they end up falling.

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And the problem is when they do end up

falling,

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They do not fall in an area that's free of

obstructions or debris.

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You have chairs, you have tables, you have

things with sharp objects, you have a

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concrete floor.

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So the impact can be very, very

significant.

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And all of these are totally preventable,

right?

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All we need is somebody whose sole mission

is to ensure that we do not have these

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hazards that will give way to this.

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injuries to our congregation.

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And there are many.

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If you look at our last history on our

churches, the majority is because of these

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slip strips and fall that are totally

preventable.

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Yeah, you mentioned a lot of great

examples.

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I know that there's sometimes they could

be hand railings or hand railings missing

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from baptismal tanks or uprooted potholes

and parking lots and things of that

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nature.

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A lot that we've become accustomed to

keeping an eye out for.

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And that kind of bears a question for me.

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As an account executive, how has your view

of risk management changed when it comes

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to these things?

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Because when we think of individuals at

the church, you're going to Sabbath

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school, you're going to Wednesday night

prayer meeting, Vespers, whatever it may

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be, these are things that you're not

really paying attention to.

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So as someone who's in the industry, who's

in risk management,

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How has that changed your view and what

are maybe some encouraging things that we

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could give our clients to say, hey,

although it may not be heavily on your

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radar, these are just, if you see daisy

chained extension cords across the room,

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it's important to say these things and

what it could potentially lead to.

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So how has that changed your view being a

risk manager?

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one thing.

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When you are a risk manager, your radar

expands and your eye gets trained to spot

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these things immediately.

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And before I was in this line of business

in insurance to be a risk management

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consultant, I would not necessarily notice

the ones that are not obvious, right?

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I would notice probably a loose,

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a cracked step and I will try to avoid

that, but I would not look for an

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electrical box that's exposed.

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I would not notice that the railing is not

there.

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And being a risk manager, it makes me

think of safety as a whole, not just for

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myself.

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As before, I would think, well, it's not

my job.

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I'm sure somebody will take care of it,

right?

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I would think that somebody is,

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going to fix that somehow someday, but I

wouldn't see it as my job.

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Whereas now I'm looking at the safety as a

whole, as something that encompasses us

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all and it will affect us all.

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So right now my husband thinks that I am

becoming too intentional about safety

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because I am pointing out things in our

household that could

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prove to be a hazard.

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And this is exactly what we need for a

church.

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And we need somebody who wants to find

these things, even if they're not obvious.

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They want to get a guideline, a worksheet,

and check these things off the list, that

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they are in working condition, that no

remedies are needed, no recommendation

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need to be addressed.

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So...

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Like I said, a lot of the things that I've

mentioned are preventable, like the cord.

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You can imagine you don't have to be a

very clumsy person to stumble and fall in

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interest of because when you walk, you're

looking forward, you're not looking at

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your feet, you're not looking at the

hazard that are around your feet.

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But if you had a safety officer that

walked around the premises before you had

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worship, he would be able to notice that

the carpet is lifting over there and

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somebody can trip and they could look at

the.

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area around it.

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If they were to fall, how great the injury

would be.

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Will they hit their head on that corner?

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Will they end up, you know, so you want to

have somebody who is thinking of the worst

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case scenarios.

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I know it sounds a little bit negative to

think that way, but prevention is

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everything.

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Attention to detail is at the heart of

risk management.

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So,

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I found myself to be more careful and

having a better understanding of how these

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oversights can affect the safety in our

household.

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And also when you talk about the church,

when you, for example, are noticing a

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exposed electrical box or wires that look

a little old or rusty or corroded.

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By taking care of these before something

happened, not only do you make sure that

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something doesn't happen, your

congregation doesn't get hurt, but you

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prolong the life of your contents, of your

property.

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You keep everything in a working

condition, and that is at the heart of

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risk management.

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Absolutely.

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So what I'm hearing you say, Bianca's risk

management is a holistic process.

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Would you agree with that?

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Absolutely.

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You know, when we think about risk

management or a safety officer, we tend to

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think that's one person.

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Well, it's not.

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We want to think of it as a safety

committee that is spearheaded by a safety

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officer.

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But we all have a part to play and the

safety officer cannot do it alone.

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And, you know, we want our pastors to

focus on ministry, to focus on what they

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do best.

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And that's why it's important that

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they form that safety committee that they

have these meetings and they talk about

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child protection, they talk about

maintenance, they talk about emergency

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preparedness, they talk about planning all

these things and being prepared ahead of

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something happening.

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Because you can imagine if you are

prepared and you have a plan in place and

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you have a designated person ready to

respond, should something happen, let's

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say you have a hurricane or

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earthquake or active shooter situation,

you will not have chaos because you have

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planned these things.

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You have found your people that are going

to be responsible and know what to do and

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they will lead the congregation to safety

and they will take the necessary steps to

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make sure that we avoid a catastrophic

situation, that we contain the damage as

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much as we can.

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So that's why it's important that we are

all involved from the pastor,

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to deacons, elders, even greeters at the

church have a great responsibility.

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Not only will they make congregation feel

welcome when they come to church, but they

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have a duty to scour the environments, to

see who's coming in, to notice items of

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concern, maybe an unruly person, maybe

somebody who seems agitated, and just

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address that situation as it happens,

report it immediately to...

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The church staff, to the elders, to the

deacons, to the pastors, so that we are in

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this together, we are not taken by

surprise.

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Absolutely, that makes a lot of sense.

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So when it comes to slips, trips and

falls, maybe for our audience, which one

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or a few have you seen the most?

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And I guess how best could clients prevent

the most common slips, trips and falls,

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the ones that we see the most?

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The ones we see the most are the ones that

involve stairs, right?

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Going downstairs.

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So what contributes to these types of

injuries is railing missing, poor

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lighting, or cracked steps, or that non

-slip mat that is on stairs is not there

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or is torn.

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So that is one, injuries happening on

steps.

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A second one would be injuries that happen

on the sidewalk because a lot of the times

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we pay attention to the inside of the

church, but we do not pay as much

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attention to the sidewalk, to the outside

of the church.

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And that is our responsibility as well.

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So we see a lot of slip trips and fall,

especially in the States that have more

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wintery weather like the Northeast, the

Midwest.

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the northern states, Canadian states, and

Canada.

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So, slip, strips, and fall that happen

outside.

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And that happened due to ice, sleet, and

snow.

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So we have to be very diligent in removing

that ice, de -icing, adding sand.

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And that is, it can be tricky sometimes

because you have removed the ice, you have

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snow, we have put...

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sand, but then it snows, it melts, and

then it becomes another hazard.

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So you require continuous monitoring of

that sidewalk in those months.

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So it's important that you have somebody

that is not only watching for the safety

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of the inside of the church, but also on

the outside.

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We have a lot of injuries happening in the

parking lot as well.

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For the same reason, ice, sleet, snow, or,

you know, cracked pavement.

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on their way to the church, they slip,

trip and fall on those areas.

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So we need to look outside the church as

well.

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And another one happens due to the

person's own, I'm not going to say

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negligence, but circumstances.

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They lose their footing.

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They...

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they slip, it's just an accident.

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But then again, if you had railing, then

there's something to get yourself steady

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onto, right?

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So these are the most prevalent, the ones

that we see the most.

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And we do see sometimes injuries that...

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come for volunteers who participate in

work bees and they, you know, when they

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are painting the church or fixing the

ceiling of the church, they get up on the

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ladder and they end up hurting themselves.

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So this is a topic that we could address

in a different podcast or to elaborate on

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how to work with the high risk activities

with contractors went to hire one, but we

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see a lot of injuries happening.

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two volunteers who participate in work

bees and injure themselves because they

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are elevated cleaning or painting or

fixing ceilings.

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So that are the three, the top three that

we see the most.

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Excellent.

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I really relate to the one when you were

talking about the parking lot because I

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was arriving at a meeting and the parking

lot itself had been shoveled and the plow

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had come by and everything.

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So it looked like everything was safe and

salted, but the moment I stepped out of

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the car and I...

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I almost slipped and hurt myself pretty

bad, but I was able to catch myself and

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you know, it's it's it's a black ice

essentially will it's something that can

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happen.

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Even just there's another one that came to

mind.

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You mentioned.

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Accidental.

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Slip, trips and falls where I was walking

out and completely didn't see the drop and

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again.

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almost lost my balance, fell out.

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So sometimes it can be a result of your

own negligence, you not paying attention.

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And other times it can be something that

is preventable.

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Ultimately, like you said earlier, it's a

holistic process.

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It's a team effort.

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So to be able to keep all areas of the

church ground safe, you need to, you need

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the support of pastors, elders, the church

board, its members.

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In a way, we are all risk managers is what

I'm hearing.

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We have to Pay attention keep our eyes

open.

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We want to keep our churches safe And so

you mentioned some of the things that that

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can be done already and you also mentioned

Safety officer so could you kind of

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elaborate a little bit more on the role of

a safety officer and how they can provide

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Practical leadership and addressing some

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some of these issues.

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We talk a lot about safety officer and

what their role is.

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And we tell our pastors that it is hard

being a pastor because you have to focus

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on ministry and you have to focus on

safety.

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You have to focus on legal liability.

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And there are many things that can take

away from your ministry.

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So what better plan to have than having a

safety committee?

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And you don't have to have many people, a

lot of staff to create your safety

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committee.

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It can be you as a pastor, but you need to

have a safety officer.

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It's important that you have a person

whose whole job is to make sure that your

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church is safe, because you cannot do this

alone as a pastor.

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You cannot spearhead everything.

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And it's important that you delegate these

important tasks.

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to a safety officer, a risk manager of

your own.

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And their roles will be, for example, self

-inspection evaluation, walking around

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your premises, both inside and out, with a

clipboard, checking things off, making

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sure that they look as they should.

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At Adventist Risk Management, we have

resources for you.

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You can download these worksheets so that

you can use them immediately.

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We want to make it easy for you to...

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have a safety officer to make their job

easier.

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They will be tasked with security.

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They will make sure that the areas are

properly lit, that they do not have bushes

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that are not trimmed, allowing

perpetrators to hide in there to do

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anything that they shouldn't be doing, you

know, further to vandalize your church or

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break in.

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They should be responsible with emergency

plans.

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They should be the ones knowing.

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what to do, who the designated personnel

is to assist in emergency preparedness,

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:

and they should know what to do in each

situation.

358

:

And again, we have resources for them.

359

:

They should be tasked with activities and

transportation.

360

:

They need to know what is necessary when

you have an activity planned, especially

361

:

with children.

362

:

We have a lot of ministries that are

geared for our children in our churches.

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:

We do a lot for our kids.

364

:

And...

365

:

They need to know what is expected of our

church to do.

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:

You need permission slips.

367

:

You need medical authorization form,

consent for treatment.

368

:

You need to know transportation.

369

:

You need to know what the limitations are,

who your drivers are, what happens when

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:

the volunteers use their own vehicle.

371

:

So there are many things that the safety

officer need to know.

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:

They need to be trained in child

protection.

373

:

Yes, even safety officers need to know

what our church manual recommends in terms

374

:

of child protection.

375

:

And of course, maintenance.

376

:

This is their number one job.

377

:

Incident response.

378

:

When something happens, what do you do?

379

:

Where do you go?

380

:

What form do you fill out?

381

:

Who do you contact?

382

:

And when you think about all the things

that I've listed here, it can sound like a

383

:

lot.

384

:

Where do we get all this information?

385

:

Well,

386

:

We have that for you.

387

:

We have risk training centers.

388

:

If you go to our website, to the risk

training center, you can make an account,

389

:

log in, and take the training.

390

:

It is available in English and Spanish.

391

:

We're working to make it available in

other languages like French and

392

:

Portuguese.

393

:

And if you take it in one go, it will take

you two to four hours, depending of your

394

:

understanding level of, or if you have

difficulties.

395

:

But it's easy for you to get.

396

:

valuable information and resources in one

package.

397

:

We have modules that address every

responsibility that I listed.

398

:

And if you have trouble understanding or

getting forward from one module to

399

:

another, we are here to help.

400

:

We would be more than happy to answer your

call and guide you through that process.

401

:

And the best part about it is that not

only you will become more knowledgeable of

402

:

what

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:

risk management at church level is, but

this will help you in your personal life,

404

:

in your own household.

405

:

It will open your eyes to risks that you

weren't even aware that are there and they

406

:

are very great.

407

:

So it's very beneficial.

408

:

Like I said, it's on our website, Risk

Training Center.

409

:

We have courses for pastors, for safety

officers, and these courses are made as a

410

:

result of our interaction with you.

411

:

We meet our safety officer and they ask

us, how can we get all this in one

412

:

package?

413

:

So I'm here to tell you that we have it.

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:

It's on our website.

415

:

And if you are passionate about risk

management, then your congregation will

416

:

join you in that way of thinking.

417

:

If you are proactive, if you are

intentional, your congregation will

418

:

follow.

419

:

So you you mentioned a few you mentioned a

self inspection form and time kind of

420

:

tying the early part of our conversation

together What is what does that look like

421

:

if I'm going around my church?

422

:

I notice a few hazards around by going

through the self inspection form which I

423

:

also the question is how often do I should

we be doing this but?

424

:

If I noticed a few things from the self

-inspection form, what's kind of the next

425

:

steps after I notice something like that?

426

:

That's a great question, Antra, because we

talk about touring the property at least

427

:

once a month and checking things off on

the inspection form.

428

:

And the inspection form is very

comprehensive.

429

:

It will look at both inside and outside.

430

:

It will look at your gutters.

431

:

It will look at your draining system.

432

:

It will look at the electrical system,

HVAC system, a lot of the things.

433

:

So of course it's important to walk around

and cross off.

434

:

what is in good standing and what needs

remediation.

435

:

But it's very important that when you have

found something out of order, that you do

436

:

something about it, that you fix it.

437

:

Because what good will it do if you

discovered it, but you just left it there,

438

:

right?

439

:

Allowing it to become further decayed and

ultimately breaking down causing either a

440

:

fire or another large loss.

441

:

So it's important not only to...

442

:

Detect these hazards but also to do

something about it.

443

:

For example, we we survey our properties

We every five years our properties are

444

:

getting surveyed We have a certified

surveyor coming to your properties and

445

:

they inspect everything and at the end of

the survey You get a report and that

446

:

report will tell you Items that need to be

remedied.

447

:

It's very important that you look at those

items and that you do fix them Because if

448

:

we do nothing about it

449

:

That makes us negligent.

450

:

And you know, when we have a slip, slips,

trips and fall at our church, and there's

451

:

going to be an investigation, how did this

happen?

452

:

And if it's proven that it happened

because you failed to provide for a safe

453

:

environment, and especially if that

failure was gross, the courts will not

454

:

look favorable on our church.

455

:

The...

456

:

There could be punitive damages.

457

:

There could be all kinds of legal

implication that will make the loss much

458

:

larger, a loss that we could have totally

prevented.

459

:

Yeah, for, and just for reference for our

listeners, you mentioned that we survey

460

:

our properties every five years.

461

:

So that's through a vendor that we use,

Verisk, and that's slowly trickling into

462

:

Canada as well for our vendor there, Opta.

463

:

In between time, the self -inspection form

is something that clients can do for

464

:

themselves.

465

:

And...

466

:

It helps just as a review, have we

addressed all the hazards that we've

467

:

noticed outside of the years that we're

being inspected by the vendor.

468

:

And that adds to that holistic process

that we were mentioning earlier, where you

469

:

receive something from Avaris or an Opta,

they list hazards.

470

:

They may also allow you to know whether

you're underinsured or insured properly.

471

:

It's a team effort.

472

:

So when it comes to the self -inspection

form in and of itself, or the safety

473

:

officer, I should say, is this just

something that one person at the church

474

:

does by themselves?

475

:

Is this a group of people that should be

taking account of this?

476

:

Or what does that look like?

477

:

I know you mentioned that this is a team

effort, but what is that?

478

:

Can you explain a little bit more about

what that looks like as well?

479

:

Yes, so we talk about...

480

:

providing for safety at our churches.

481

:

And we talk about pastors and safety

officers, but at the end of the day, they

482

:

cannot do it alone.

483

:

This is not a one man job.

484

:

Protecting people and property requires a

team of people.

485

:

So it's important that you look at forming

a safety committee that will have your

486

:

pastor, your safety officer, your church

treasurer, Sabbath school teachers, youth

487

:

leaders, and facility managers.

488

:

All of these people will form the safety

committee.

489

:

And of course, the safety officer can walk

around with a self -inspection form and

490

:

check things off the list.

491

:

But everyone can aid the safety officer in

noticing things.

492

:

For example, the Sabbath school teachers

can look inside their Sabbath classroom

493

:

and notice that there are hazards there

like a wire or electrical outlets that are

494

:

not capped for the smaller children

classrooms.

495

:

Or everyone can look.

496

:

at the area where they work, where they

minister and find irregularities that they

497

:

could communicate to the safety officers

and have these addressed.

498

:

So just like you mentioned, this is a

holistic approach and this is not a one

499

:

-man job.

500

:

And if it starts with a pastor actually,

we need to have a pastor that will

501

:

spearhead this and form a safety

committee.

502

:

designate its members and delegate and

become united on the front of safety.

503

:

Who is responsible for what and what do we

do?

504

:

But it's important that we do something

about it.

505

:

So together we can provide for the safety

of the church through our safety

506

:

committee.

507

:

I really like that United Front on Safety.

508

:

I like that.

509

:

And that gives a good idea of where to

start, starting with the safety committee,

510

:

safety officers, going through self

-inspection.

511

:

A lot of this information, as you

mentioned, is on our website.

512

:

And that gives a good idea of the

direction that we should take.

513

:

So with all those things said, we've

talked about...

514

:

the leading cause of costly accidents at

our churches and what they are, how to

515

:

identify them, and how the addition of a

safety officer can help respond to these

516

:

hazards.

517

:

So we don't really want to sign off on

that note and leave you all kind of

518

:

guessing with information.

519

:

So.

520

:

I guess we really want to give you a call

to action.

521

:

And what does that look like, Bianca?

522

:

What's some things that if I go to my

church this Sabbath and want to get

523

:

started and want to make sure that our

congregation is as safe as possible, what

524

:

are some things that we would encourage

our clients to do?

525

:

If they are not sure on how to start a

safety committee, they can contact their

526

:

conference or they can contact us

directly.

527

:

They will have to find the account

executive that is managing their territory

528

:

and we can give them resources on how to

start your safety committee.

529

:

Not only do we have articles that have

been written by our account executives,

530

:

to aid the churches in this aspect.

531

:

But like I mentioned earlier, the Risk

Training Center is a great place to start.

532

:

It has all the information in one place.

533

:

And the great part about this is that it's

not geared only towards safety officers.

534

:

It can be taken by anyone, by the

treasurers.

535

:

It can be taken by the facility manager,

the youth leader, the Sabbath school

536

:

teachers, anyone.

537

:

can access this information.

538

:

So contact your conference or contact

Adventist Risk Management, the account

539

:

executive that's responsible for your

area, your conference can help you find

540

:

who that person is and we will be able to

equip you with resources and aid you in

541

:

how to get your safety committee started.

542

:

But like I said, I really encourage you to

do the Risk Training Center and of course

543

:

when we...

544

:

Whenever we have to study something, we

become overwhelmed.

545

:

no, this is going to be a lot of

information.

546

:

It's going to be difficult to understand.

547

:

But I want to tell you that it is not

difficult to understand.

548

:

It is written by us in concert with you.

549

:

We have used terms that are very easy to

understand, and these are situations that

550

:

happen in our churches.

551

:

So it's specifically customized, designed

for a 70 -day Adventist church.

552

:

And...

553

:

Like I said, if you want to take it in one

go, it will take you two to four hours.

554

:

It will get you certified in risk

management for your church.

555

:

You'll receive a completion

acknowledgement at the end, but it will

556

:

widen your horizon in terms of risk

management.

557

:

It will make you more aware, more self

-aware, and it will make you see hazards

558

:

that you haven't even considered.

559

:

So I have taken the course and it has

helped me and I am pretty sure that it

560

:

will help you tremendously.

561

:

That's excellent Bianca.

562

:

I think that gives our clients a great

opportunity or any of our listeners a

563

:

great opportunity, a good idea of where

they should start.

564

:

We've discussed slipships from falls and

some of the biggest things, some of the

565

:

biggest leading factors that cause

slipships in falls.

566

:

We've explored what a safety committee is

and safety officer and their role in

567

:

leadership and how they...

568

:

can assist in these efforts to best

protect and ensure safety at their local

569

:

entities.

570

:

Ultimately, I know it's a holistic

approach and process, which you've also

571

:

mentioned.

572

:

And this puts a lot of things into

perspective when it comes to better

573

:

managing and having a strategic risk

management plan at your churches.

574

:

We want, ultimately, to

575

:

between our churches and Adventist Risk

Management, we want our churches to be

576

:

safe places for both new and returning

members.

577

:

Hopefully this means that after you've

listened to this episode that you take

578

:

this opportunity to promote safety and

risk management at your churches, which

579

:

we've been really excited to talk about

today thanks to my guest, Bianca.

580

:

She's a wealth of knowledge, hopefully

for...

581

:

I don't believe we mentioned it earlier,

Bianca, but I know you serve as account

582

:

executive for a few locations.

583

:

I don't know if you want to share that

information, but there are other account

584

:

executives.

585

:

So if Bianca doesn't happen to be your

account executive, make sure that you

586

:

reach out to the appropriate account

executive and they too can assist you in

587

:

the same information that you're looking

for regarding slips, trips and falls or

588

:

any other hazards.

589

:

self -finding, self -inspection forms, the

risk control center.

590

:

As Bianca mentioned, we have info sheets

on our website, articles, videos, and

591

:

other, the online course itself at your

disposal to help you with your risk

592

:

management journey.

593

:

I want to, again, thank you so much,

Bianca, for sitting with me today, having

594

:

this conversation.

595

:

I really thank you for that.

596

:

your wealth of knowledge and expertise

that you've been able to provide for our

597

:

listeners today.

598

:

Thank you for having me Hunter and I'm

looking forward to receiving calls or

599

:

emails from my pastors and safety

officers.

600

:

I serve in the Atlantic Union Conference,

Mid -America Union Conference and the SDA

601

:

Church in Canada.

602

:

So make sure you contact either your

conference or myself if I am your account

603

:

executive and I will be more than happy to

assist you in getting what you need.

604

:

Awesome, awesome.

605

:

Thank you so much again, Bianca.

606

:

Thank you to our listeners.

607

:

Thank you for tuning in today to today's

episode of Less Talk Solutions regarding

608

:

slip trips and falls.

609

:

And until next time, stay safe.

610

:

Goodbye.

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About the Podcast

Let's Talk Solutions
Let’s Talk Solutions” is a podcast where we demystify risk management and bring practical solutions to real-world problems.

We’ll talk to experts and experienced church leaders to tackle the biggest problems facing the risk management landscape. Among other topics, we’ll help you learn how to create safer church environments, prepare for natural disasters, and maintain facilities.

Our end goal is to equip our community with the know-how to effectively safeguard their ministries. This podcast isn’t just about risk avoidance; it’s about safeguarding the mission and values that drive our church’s work.

Join us for “Let’s Talk Solutions” to listen to insightful conversations aimed at fortifying our ministries, a growing movement towards responsible stewardship.