Agenda - Public Works Committee - 05/21/2019

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RISK MANAGEMENT INFORMATION PROVIDING ASSISTANCE IN EMERGENCIES Coverage and Liability Issues When disaster strikes in Minnesota, the response is always the same. Cities and other local governments around the state pitch in to help, sending equipment and crews of firefighters, police officers, public works and utilities workers, building inspectors, and whatever other help is needed. We see that same spirit of emergency assistance sometimes reaching beyond the borders of Minnesota, whether that means helping out with floods in Iowa or sending assistance to the coastal states impacted by a hurricane. Providing and receiving disaster assistance raises some coverage and liability issues for Minnesota cities, some of which can be different when you’re responding out of state. This memo outlines applicable statutes, summarizes how the city’s LMCIT coverage would apply, and identifies some potential problems that cities need to be aware of. There’s also a checklist of potential coverage issues in emergency assistance situations. Providing assistance within Minnesota Ï the local emergency assistance statute Minn. Stat. 12.331 was first passed as part of the tornado relief bill in 1998. You could think of this law as a “default” mutual aid agreement for disasters. It clarifies local governments’ authority both to request and to provide emergency assistance without an existing mutual aid agreement, and addresses the liability issues that can arise from emergency assistance. 12.331 sets out the following rules for when one political Learn More subdivision in Minnesota sends assistance to another Minnesota public body in an emergency. Throughout this wĻğķƒƚƩĻğĬƚǒƷĻƒĻƩŭĻƓĭǤğƭƭźƭƷğƓĭĻ memo we’ll refer to cities, but this statute also applies to źƓʹ counties, towns and other political subdivisions. HandbookforMinnesotaCities: PartIV Workers’ compensation. For purposes of workers’ LƷ͸ƭğǝğźƌğĬƌĻğƷǞǞǞ͵ƌƒĭ͵ƚƩŭ͵ compensation, the sending city’s employees are deemed to be acting within the scope of their duties as employees of the sending city. An injury to an employee of a city providing assistance would therefore be covered under his or her own city’s work comp coverage. Liability. For purposes of tort liability, employees of the city sending assistance are deemed to be employees of the city receiving assistance. It would therefore be the responsibility of the This material is provided as general information and is not a substitute for legal advice. Consult your attorney for advice concerning specific situations.