The town of Cicero is proud to announce that Supervisor Mark Venesky was selected to receive the Public Employers Risk Management Association (PERMA) Safety Person of the Year Award for outstanding contributions made towards the town’s employee’s safety culture.
PERMA is New York’s largest self-insured provider of workers compensation for public employers covers more than 55,000 NYS municipal employees.
“Mark Venesky optimizes the ‘top-down’ organization of an effective safety culture,” the nomination letter read. “Getting all employees to buy into protecting their safety and the safety of their colleagues is a phenomenal achievement, and especially because Mark has only been in office for a little over a year. Mark hired a safety coordinator to direct a committee that consists of representatives from each town departments.”
The program incorporates tool box talks, routine inspections, reviewing policies and the installation of communication boards have all focused on educating the workforce with the sole mission to keep employees on the job and reduce workers comp expenses.
The team of employees have implemented numerous training sessions as well as redesigned the incident reporting documents and procedures. They also conduct a thorough review of any accident and “near miss” investigations from which they make recommended changes to their procedures as needed. Employees are involved in every aspect of safety at the town, including conducting the training. The results have shown an already dramatic improvement in the town’s losses, with more to follow in future years.
It is Venesky’s belief that by getting employee buy in you can change the culture of safety and overall we will keep people healthy and on the job and eventually reducing costs. Venesky will be honored by PERMA at the Annual Awards Ceremony May 25 at the Sagamore Hotel and Resort in Bolton Landing, Warren County.
