Chickasaw County adopts safety manual, authorizes online training and opens tracking review

Chickasaw County supervisors on Nov. 12 approved a county-wide safety manual and associated new-hire and workers’ compensation procedures after months of inspections and follow-up work by newly appointed Safety Director Renee Carey.

Carey told the board she began systematic facility walk-throughs after starting in April and documented multiple housekeeping and safety deficiencies that have since been corrected or are in progress. "I did a walk through the August of all of our facilities myself, and there were some things that need to be corrected," Carey said, adding follow-up inspections showed substantial improvement.

The board discussed several operational steps recommended by Carey and the safety committee, including a password-protected webpage to centralize contractor certificates of insurance and an online harassment-training module that records participant names and completion. Carey said the portal setup would carry a one-time fee (quoted in the meeting as $375) and the online module (KPA) would allow the county to document who completed mandatory training. "When you're done with it, it will have you record your name, and then that will be sent to me," she said.

Supervisors emphasized that some appointed boards and volunteers lack county email addresses, and that in-person sessions would remain necessary for those participants. Several supervisors stressed supervisors and department heads must enforce completion: "If you don't do the training in the last 12 months, the board's probably not gonna back you," one supervisor said during the discussion of enforcement and potential liability.

Carey also presented survey results and a vendor landscape for vehicle- and equipment-tracking systems, reporting that of 26 county replies she received, 24 said they track county vehicles. She cited potential benefits including better documentation for insurance claims, improved blade maps for snow removal and DOT-violation tracking. Supervisors asked staff to return with formal presentations and cost estimates before any procurement decision.

The board approved the safety manual, the new-hire packet and workers’ compensation reporting procedures by roll call; votes were recorded in favor by all supervisors present. Carey said the approved policies will allow the county to standardize job safety analyses and department-level training going forward.

The board also directed staff to draft a simple certificate-of-insurance page for the county site and to present cost estimates for fleet-tracking options.

What happens next: The Safety Director will implement the approved safety manual, work with department heads on job-specific checklists and return with vendor proposals and cost estimates for vehicle tracking and the COI portal.