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Cheektowaga outlines expanded employee safety training, rolls out learning platform for department heads
Summary
Town officials heard a presentation May 27 from Jason Tolsma on a multi-pronged employee training program — CPR/AED, excavator and chainsaw operation, OSHA 10, EOC/ICS training and a new Vector Solutions learning-management rollout — conducted through a cross-department safety committee.
Jason Tolsma presented a summary of recent and planned employee safety and training activities to the Town Board of Cheektowaga on May 27, saying the program aims to reduce workplace injuries and increase staff readiness.
Tolsma said training since 2024 has included work-zone safety, blood-borne pathogens, harassment prevention, slips and falls, electrical hazards, heat-stress awareness, ergonomics, excavator and chainsaw operation, CPR/AED classes, and table-top exercises that involve police and new supervisors. “We have a safety committee that was started…made up of employees from all of the different groups…we meet monthly, and we talk about training,” Tolsma said. He added those sessions include union representatives, supervisors and department heads and that training is planned collectively rather than as an individual effort.
Tolsma told the board the town has held multiple in-person supervisor trainings and that employees were split into groups — about a third at a time — to receive hands-on instruction. He said excavator training is required for employees operating mechanized excavation equipment and has reduced the town's exposure to fines for utility strikes. He also emphasized chainsaw and other equipment training: “We don't…shouldn't be giving our employees something that they don't know how to operate.”
The town has started providing CPR/AED training for staff and Tolsma said the town has about 70 AEDs deployed across marked police cars and municipal buildings. He said the town conducted its second CPR/AED class the morning of the meeting and plans to expand fire-extinguisher and active-shooter response training, including "stop the bleed" techniques.
Tolsma told the board the town approved the Vector Solutions learning-management platform earlier in the year and it was being deployed to department heads first. “They have training coming up the first week in June as how they can administer training themselves, how they can track their employees…then it'll be pushed out to the employees, hopefully by fall,” he said.
Council members asked about large-scale incident drills. Tolsma said the airport biennial drill occurs every three years (the next in July), that there has been limited recent mall or train-derailment simulation locally, and that the town has discussed coordination with neighboring jurisdictions and the county. He outlined other capabilities: an emergency operations center (EOC) staffed for large events, incident-command training (ICS) at intermediate and advanced levels, and the county's DLAN system used for requesting resources during storms.
On in-house training capacity, Tolsma said many topics could be taught by town staff — except OSHA 10, which he said he would not deliver — and that the safety committee favors training town employees to become trainers. He noted union rules may limit in-house trainer roles and said the committee intends to work with unions on that point.
Tolsma and council members discussed grant opportunities; he said the town has looked into emergency-preparedness grants but had not specifically targeted training grants and that many grants had run through 2025. He also noted a shared-services agreement with the state Department of Transportation was being updated to support heavy-equipment operator training, and that the town is exploring ways to capture injury and near-miss reports so the committee can tailor future training.
The board heard that the town hopes to certify more internal trainers within one to two years, expand CPR/AED trainer capacity so the town can provide trainings to neighborhood groups and leagues, and produce a comprehensive safety manual that the committee will draft.
Tolsma asked department heads and union officials to contact him with questions and said training plans were circulated to department leaders for scheduling. He repeatedly attributed the program to the safety committee's collective work rather than to a single person.
Board members praised the work and raised follow-up points including the timeline for the safety manual, the feasibility of making OSHA 10 a hiring prerequisite (with potential costs), and whether having in-house trainers could reduce recurring contracted training costs. The presentation concluded with the board asking to receive more frequent communication on training schedules and access to the Vector Solutions rollout materials when available.
