MIIA presents safety, risk management, wellness awards

During its Annual Business Meeting in Boston on Jan. 20, MIIA presented awards to outstanding member communities and municipal entities to recognize their commitment to safety, risk management, and employee wellness.

Safety Leadership
MIIA created a new Safety Leadership Award to recognize a municipal leader who is dedicated to high safety standards and exemplifies a commitment to protecting people and property. The new award honors the late Bridget McGuiness, who led many MIIA training workshops around the state, and served as an advocate for worker health and safety for decades.

MIIA presented its inaugural Safety Leadership Award to Yarmouth Assistant Public Works Director Roby Whitehouse, who serves on the Barnstable County Safety Roundtable and led the development of a safety and health program for local transfer stations. Whitehouse met or exceeded all award criteria, including demonstrating concern for the protection of people and property, dedication to high safety standards, working to create a safety culture, demonstrated leadership and partnership, and promotion of cross-departmental safety efforts.

Risk Management
MIIA’s Risk Management program recognized the following members for their commitment to safety and renewed emphasis on compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Administration standards.

Erving: The town of Erving demonstrated ongoing dedication to safety compliance and infrastructure maintenance. The town’s safety committee identified and targeted seven high-priority OSHA programs for enhanced focus and program updates, and employees participated in more than 25 MIIA trainings this past year. Erving hosted multiple training sessions and opened registration to surrounding towns, helping to further spread the workplace safety message.

Longmeadow: The town of Longmeadow is an active participant in MIIA’s Hartford Steam Boiler Sensor Program, which helps to identify building conditions with a high probability for losses. The town’s safety committee meets quarterly, with strong attendance, and the town demonstrates an ongoing commitment to compliance with Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards rules. Over the past three years, Longmeadow has participated in an average of 38 training courses per year.

Woburn: The city of Woburn demonstrates a consistent, proactive focus on risk management. City leaders hold quarterly safety meetings where departments identify key loss areas and develop preventative safety programs to address them. In response to program-wide, loss-related challenges, this past year the city’s facility staff installed integrated sensor monitoring technology designed to mitigate property losses related to water damage.

Yarmouth: The town of Yarmouth exemplifies a culture of partnership and demonstrates a consistent focus on risk management. Yarmouth’s leadership team works together to address common causes of property losses and damage, regularly developing tailored safety trainings for employees. Yarmouth is also an active participant in the Barnstable County Roundtable Committee, working with neighboring Cape Cod towns.

Health and Wellness
MIIA recognized several members who have excelled in employee wellness efforts. Each winner participated in a variety of Well Aware activities and took advantage of the many programs and resources offered by MIIA.

Avon – Excellence in Wellness: Avon’s Wellness Champion (employee coordinator) brings a wide range of wellness programs to employees, including workshops on exercise, balance, posture, and nutrition. After a pause on in-person programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the town successfully motivated employees to attend in-person workshops again — garnering strong participation even during the summer, which can be a difficult time to engage employees.

Dracut – Excellence in Wellness: Dracut has two Wellness Champions — one supports town departments and the other supports the schools. They work together to deliver employee workshops focusing on stress reduction, exercise/fitness, disease management, and CPR/first aid/AED training. The Wellness Champions promote wellness programs by email and encourage employees to use the MIIA Member Portal to sign up for classes. Dracut has also opened its classes to a nearby municipality.

Mansfield – Excellence in Wellness: Mansfield benefits from three Wellness Champions and strong support from Town Manager Kevin Dumas, which helps to build a robust wellness culture among employees. Wellness Champions seek out employee feedback, make program improvements, and encourage participation, as well as use of the MIIA Member Portal. The town has offered workshops related to mindfulness, fitness, and nutrition, all with high participation rates from town and school employees.

Winchester – Excellence in Employee Engagement: Since Winchester rejoined MIIA’s Health Benefits Trust in fiscal 2023, employees have enthusiastically participated in a range of wellness programs, including yoga, strength, stretch and balance, power conditioning, Zumba, Pilates, nutrition, and mindfulness classes. Additionally, the town offered an adult CPR class, sponsored a 10K-A-Day step challenge, and provided stress-relieving seated massages. Winchester’s Wellness Champion has created robust and diverse wellness offerings that support employees in reaching their health and wellness goals.

Wellness award honorees are all supported internally by active employee champions and wellness committee members who showed commitment, support, and dedication to delivering diverse programs to their employees, which helps to foster an overall culture of health and well-being.

Written by Jennifer Ranz, freelance writer