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Tue March 20, 2001
Aggregate Equipment Guide
Acme Brick celebrated its annual Safety Day on Jan. 26 as employees competed for prizes and learned how to reduce hazards in the workplace.
At the company’s Denton, TX, plant, employees from every department took part in events like the Volvo Wheel Loader Rodeo and the Hitachi Excavator Skills Test.
“We want to create a safer working environment and let people see what other people do in their departments,” said Ronald Carpenter, mining supervisor of the Denton plant.
Carpenter was quick to point out that Safety Day does make a difference in educating and protecting workers.
“We look forward to this all year,” said Preparations Supervisor Chet Harris. “It’s an opportunity for the guys to try machines that they normally don’t work with. A lot of people here come from farms, so they appreciate the chance to use some of these big machines.”
Harris said long hours at the controls help regular operators reach a higher skill level and increases the attention they pay to safety. “That’s all they do from the time they get here till the time they leave,” said Denton Plant Manager Harland Dixson who runs the show and keeps the big picture in mind.
“We try to promote safety to our people, try to instill it in their minds so that it will be with them all year long,” said Dixson. “We try to have fun with it [Safety Day], but we also take it very seriously as we do safety. I think it makes a difference with our people and what they think of safety,” said Dixson.
Employees had a chance to operate a Volvo L90C wheel loader and a Hitachi EX200 excavator in tests of skill that taught safe operating practices.
Romco Equipment Company representatives attending the event gave every participant a free hat.
Bill Mills, winner of the Hitachi Excavator Skills Test; Cheno Tellez, winner of the Volvo Wheel Loader Egg Roll; and Arthur Gloria, winner of the Volvo Wheel Loader Ball Drop, all received scale models of the machinery.
This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.