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City of
Santa Monica
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: August 10, 2010
Agendaltem: ~`~3
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Carol Swindell, Director of Finance
Subject: Contract for Workplace Injury Prevention Services
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a three year contract with PRECARE Inc., a California based organization, for
workplace injury prevention services in an amount not to exceed $231,000, with two
additional one year renewal options that, if executed, would bring the five year contract
amount to $400,000.
Executive Summary
Staff is requesting to enter into a three year agreement with PRECARE Inc. for
workplace injury prevention services for $231,000, with two additional one year renewal
options that, if executed, would bring the total contract amount to $400,000. These
services are critical to Risk Management's efforts to keep employees safe, prevent work
related injuries, and control Workers' Compensation costs.
Discussion
For several years now, Risk Management has used PRECARE, Inc. to help develop
and implement workplace injury prevention strategies for the City's physically
demanding job classifications prone to injury (e.g., Solid Waste workers, Police Officers,
Motor Coach Operators, etc). PRECARE's industrial ergonomists analyze the physical
tasks of a job and develop and train employees on how to safely, comfortably and
efficiently carry out their job responsibilities. These services have helped to significantly
reduce the number of work-related injuries in the Solid Waste Division of Public Works
and in the Big Blue Bus Department. Between 2008/09 and 2009/10, the number of new
Solid Waste Workers' Compensation claims was reduced by half (from 43 to 22) and
the number of lost days was reduced from 1,371 to 603. During this same period, BBB
reduced their new claims from 85 to 50 and lost days from 2,610 to 759.
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Staff recommends continuing the practice of using a professional ergonomist for
workplace injury prevention services, and as such, is requesting to enter into an
agreement with .PRECARE, Inc. As proposed, the City's Risk Control Officer would
identify harmful injury trends in the organization and work with PRECARE staff and
affected departments to develop and implement strategies to reverse the trends. These
strategies could range from group training on how to avoid back strain through proper
stretching techniques to .individualized training on safe work practices for employees
returning from serious work injuries.
Contract costs will run between $75,000 and $79,200 per year during the initial three
year term of the agreement. Staff believes this is amost-effective investment in
workplace injury prevention. In 2009 alone, staff estimates the City avoided 42 Workers'
Compensation claims through injury prevention services from PRECARE. Given the
industry average of $14,000 in Workers' Compensation costs per sprain or strain, these
efforts helped avoid almost $600,000 in claims costs.
Contractor/Consultant Selection
Staff conducted a competitive bidding process for injury prevention services in May of
2010 and received proposals from 7 firms. The proposal costs ranged from a low of
$43,000 a year to $75,000 per year. Representatives from Risk Management, Solid
Waste and Big Blue Bus reviewed the proposals and recommended PRECARE be
selected. The group acknowledged PRECARE's proposal was the most expensive at
$75,000 per year. However, the group felt PRECARE was worth the expense given
their track record for providing high quality services, their focus on documented results,
and the advanced skills of the staff assigned to the City's contract (i.e., their staff are
trained physical therapists and ergonomists.)
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Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The total cost of the contract will not exceed $231,000 over the three year period.
Funding for the first year, FY 2010-11, of the agreement ($75,000) is available in
account 59235.522090. Budget authority for subsequent years will be requested in
each annual budget cycle for Council approval.
Prepared by: Larry Sacco, Risk Control Officer
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Carol Swindell
Finance Director
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Rod Gould
City Manager
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Reference Contract No.
9262 (CCS).