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Safety Rodeo Rounds Up Friendly Competition You might not realize it, but the next time you drive by someone performing maintenance on the NTTA System, you are seeing a real competitor.
The NTTA Maintenance Department completed its fifth annual Safety Rodeo in May. A mix of fun and good-natured competition, it’s a day the entire department prepares for every year.
NTTA workers approach the serious business of safety by competing in a number of contests. For many, it’s a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes and to learn how different disciplines face challenges in their jobs.
As they move from station to station, Maintenance Department personnel are scored as they steer a riding mower through an obstacle course, use a high-rise bucket truck for object retrieval, back a trailer through a set of cones, fix a grass trimmer, operate a forklift and back a sanding truck into a shed to position for a load of sand.
The event also serves as a reminder for NTTA employees to make safety the top priority while on the job. And for many, it also shows that it’s not as easy as it looks.
Workers are reminded that safety is the most important component of their job. That fact is stressed throughout the day in seminars held at the NTTA Maintenance Center, but it’s balanced with a little friendly competition in the mix.
“It’s a chance to show your skills to your co-workers and at the same time learn they have a tough job too,” said NTTA Assistant Director of Maintenance Operations Eric Hemphill, “It’s a day of fierce yet friendly competition, but we stress that we keep our eye on the prize -- safety.”
It’s not all hard work though. Prizes for high scores earned during the event were awarded. The electrical division took home the trophy for overall winner of this year’s event.
One of the NTTA’s new snow plows had just been delivered, and it was mounted to a truck for display. Look to future editions of Driving Forward for more information about the snow plows. For now, savor the thoughts of snow as the weather heats up.
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