Up Against the Safety Wall

UP AGAINST THE SAFETY WALL by Don Geary

Great Basin National Park takes safety seriously. The park has taken safety awareness to a higher level with a specially designed and constructed Safety Wall. The mobile Safety Wall was built by the maintenance staff at GRBA, and it illustrates many of the common ? and some not so common ? safety hazards that might be found in real life situations on worksites, around the office and home. Great Basin National Park?s Safety Wall was presented at a recent all-employee meeting where everyone was asked to participate in identifying safety hazards.

Specific safety concerns included overloaded electrical outlets, unidentified liquids in containers, an inoperable smoke alarm, evidence of rodent activity, trip and fall hazards, non-GFCI circuit in wet area, improper use of a stepladder, overloaded shelving, dangerous electrical panel and, lock-out-tagged-out service panel, to name just a few of the 50 safety hazards present on the wall. Prizes were awarded to participants who could identify more than a dozen safety hazards. All employees agreed that the Safety Wall was helpful in identifying potential safety risks.

At the conclusion of the Safety Wall exercise, all participants were asked, by Superintendent Cindy Nielsen, to read and sign the Great Basin Safety Policy & Agreement. This contract outlines each employee?s responsibility and accountability for personal safety and the safety of others.

Superintendent Nielsen acknowledged the teamwork of the ten park maintenance employees who designed and built the Safety Wall, and Facility Manager Mike Allison thanked his staff, presenting Time Off awards to each member of the Maintenance Team. Additional hands on safety awareness programs are being planned by the park?s Safety Committee and will be presented at future all employee meetings. Safety is not just a word at Great Basin, it is a daily practice.