A. 
The director of health and safety shall be the municipality's principal safety officer, and shall have the following authorities and responsibilities necessary to implement and the provisions of this chapter:
1. 
Enter without notice to inspect the premises of a department, agency, authority, or utility, during normal business hours and when departmental, agency, authority, or utility personnel are present;
2. 
Review any municipal document or conduct employee interviews, including any interviews with agents of collective bargaining units and municipal contractors, which the director deems relevant to an investigation. Under no circumstances, however, shall the director make public comment upon or otherwise publicly disseminate any material or information received by the director during the course of an investigation which is accorded confidential or privileged status by federal, state or local law, or which would otherwise result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if released;
3. 
Any other provisions of law notwithstanding, have access to and examine and copy, without payment of a fee, any municipal or agency records, including records which are confidential by law, including, but not limited to, accident and injury reports, legal settlements and loss control documents, subject to applicable state or federal laws. The director shall not have access to legally privileged records held by the municipal attorney, legal counsel for any municipal department or other authority, or attorney-client records held by clients of the municipal attorney or other legal counsel to the municipality. The director shall maintain the confidentiality of such records pursuant to section 3.35.020C. and shall be subject to the same penalties as the legal custodian of the records for any unlawful or unauthorized disclosure by the director. The same access in the foregoing applies to personnel files, human resources department records, or any other records which are confidential by law but they may not be copied or removed; and
4. 
Train, direct, supervise, and set minimum qualifications for department safety officers to implement and comply with municipal workplace safety and health program. Department safety officers shall report to both the director of health and safety as well as the director of their respective departments, however they shall be directed in the performance of their duties exclusively by the director of health and safety.
5. 
The director or designee shall chair a working group comprised of the agency safety officers, as established in section 3.35.020C, with the express purposes of disseminating information, sharing best practices, coordinating actions, and advising process improvements across the municipality. The council shall meet at least once a quarter and shall adopt such rules of procedure as it deems most appropriate.
B. 
The director shall submit quarterly reports to the assembly by memorandum which shall include key performance indicators as they shall establish, all workplace safety and health claims and settlements by municipal department, department logs, and any other relevant matter.
(AO No. 2023-38(S), § 4, 4-18-2023)
A. 
Director. The functions and responsibilities of the director shall include but are not limited to the development, implementation, and updating of a unified, municipal safety and health program to include:
1. 
Adoption of municipality-wide safety policies conforming to federal and state occupational safety regulations;
2. 
Periodic unannounced safety and health walk-through inspections of all workplace facilities and correction of identified hazards;
3. 
Periodic safety observations;
4. 
A published matrix of specifically required training for employees and training frequency schedule;
5. 
Investigation of accidents and injuries to root cause, communication of findings and correction of deficiencies;
6. 
Investigation into employee inquiries, suggestions, and complaints;
7. 
Maintenance of health and safety documents and files;
8. 
Oversight of periodic inspections of all municipal owned motorized vehicles, in coordination with municipal fleet management;
9. 
Establishment and monitoring of a program for reporting and investigating "near miss" situations, as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration;
10. 
Maintenance of correct department log information and publication of the annual summary from January 1 through December 31 at each department location; and
11. 
Procedures for reporting employee non-compliance to the employee's supervisor, the safety department or the human resources department.
B. 
Municipal departments. Every department shall establish safety officer position.
1. 
The safety officer within certain departments shall be a full time position and dedicated to the implementation of the health and safety program within their department. These officers may not be assigned any duties or responsibilities beyond those assigned by the director of health and safety. The responsibilities of safety officer within these departments may only be assigned as additional duty to a municipal employee on a temporary basis until the position of departmental safety officer is properly staffed. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to the following departments:
a. 
Anchorage fire department.
b. 
Anchorage health department.
c. 
Parks and recreation.
d. 
Library.
e. 
Anchorage police department.
f. 
Public transportation.
g. 
Public works.
2. 
All other municipal departments may assign the role of safety officer as an additional duty to a municipal employee within their department, subject to the minimum qualifications and training requirements as prescribed by the director.
3. 
The responsibilities of the department safety officer shall be established by director of health and safety and published in a Policy & Procedure. However, the department safety officers' primary duties or responsibilities shall be the implementation of the municipal safety program within their respective departments.
C. 
Municipal agencies. Every utility, enterprise activity or agency of the municipality, as identified in section 3.20.010 of this Code, shall establish an agency safety program separate from the municipal health and safety program. The provisions of the municipal safety program will not apply to individual agency safety programs subject to the following requirements:
1. 
The agency shall establish, in coordination with director of health and safety, an agency level safety officer position, either as a dedicated position or as an additional duty to an existing position, as deemed most appropriate to the individual agency. The responsibilities of agency safety officer will be established by the agency safety program, and the safety officer shall be directed by the appropriate agency head. However, the director of health and safety may establish the minimum qualifications and training requirements for the position.
2. 
The agency safety programs shall provide regular reports to the municipal director of health and safety at such intervals and containing such information as the director shall require.
3. 
The director of health and safety shall report on the activities of the respective agency safety programs in the quarterly report to the assembly as required by this chapter.
4. 
Upon a finding of noncompliance with state or federal regulations, or the reporting requirements of this section, and at the request of the director of health and safety, the assembly may, by resolution, remove the autonomy of any specified agency safety program, and place the agency safety officer under the direct supervision and direction of the director for either a set period time or until the fulfillment of criteria to be established by the assembly.
D. 
Confidentiality. Confidential records acquired or maintained by the health and safety program or its officers shall retain their confidential character and shall not be disclosed. Safety officers shall be subject to the same penalties as the legal custodian of the records for any unlawful or unauthorized disclosure. All records of the safety program, not subject to any other provision of law, shall be subject to the release provisions of 29 CFR §§ 1904.35 and 1904.40, AS 18.60.010—18.60.105, and AMC Section 3.90.040.
E. 
The human resources department shall establish a policy for disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal, for failure to comply with the workplace health and safety program, subject to and within the procedures of any applicable collective bargaining agreement.
(AO No. 2023-38(S), § 4, 4-18-2023)