NDSC ANNUAL SAFETY & HEALTH AWARDS
Every year, NDSC gives you the chance to honor those who put safety first, and have your company and individual employees be recognized for achievements in creating a positive safety culture.
You can nominate someone for the Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award & Lifesaver Award all year long!
Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award
One award is presented annually to an individual who has been instrumental in the development and implementation of safety programs, and honors those forward-looking individuals who, over the long-term, place safety and innovation at the forefront of their activities. Named after Duane Kuehn, who worked in the safety industry for 40 years and whose attitude and compassion demonstrate the characteristics of an outstanding safety professional, this award recognizes an individual within public safety who has gone above and beyond their daily duties and who exemplifies the mission of the NDSC.
Send the nomination form and any other documents to kristinw@ndsc.org
During the NDSC’s 50th Annual Safety + Health Conference, Christin Fine was presented the 2022 Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award. Christin Fine is the Director of EHS at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC).
Lifesaver Award
This award is presented to individuals who have acted above and beyond the call of duty to assist and/or rescue another individual(s). The act may have occurred in the workplace or elsewhere.
Ariel Gibson
Ariel works for CHI Friendship in Fargo. She works to support adults with intellectual disabilities. In May of 2022, Ariel was attending a bowling party with several people with disabilities and other staff members. Ariel was informed of a gentleman nearby who had begun actively choking. Ariel immediately responded by approaching and performing abdominal thrusts as part of her CRP/First Aid training. After multiple thrusts, she was able to dislodge the food and the man was able to breathe again.
Leighton Sys and Cyrus Mueller
In February of 2022, Leighton Sys and Cyrus Mueller were making the rounds at the East Grand Forks factory of American Crystal Sugar around 10:30 pm. The two men found another person wandering in the area with no hat or gloves. This person was disoriented and hypothermic, and he was in distress, bent over and vomiting. The man was showing signs of frostbite on his fingers and could barely speak. Recognizing the urgent nature of the situation, Leighton and Cyrus helped the person into their pickup and called their supervisor who then called 911. They discovered the man had been outside in negative 43-degree weather for at least 4 hours. They were able to get the man to an ambulance so he could get to a hospital. After getting a phone number for the man’s sister, they were able to inform her of what happened.
Dusty Grosulak
In January of 2022, Brent Seaks was playing old-pro basketball at the West River Community Center in Dickinson. Very early in the game Seaks felt dizzy and took a seat on the bench near a teammate. Luckily, teammates noticed Seaks begin to slump over and called for help while moving him safely to the ground. Within a few seconds, a seizure took hold and Seaks went into full cardiac arrest. Dickinson Fire Department Captain Dusty Grosulak had just finished a game of volleyball when he was asked to help. Another firefighter and a doctor had already started CPR; however, no pulse was located. Grosulak began to administer breaths. An AED was used along with four rounds of CPR…nearly five minutes ticked by, and another AED shock was used in a last-ditch effort to resuscitate him. During the sixth cycle, Seaks came back. Bismarck doctors called it a medical miracle that Seaks survived. Doctors determined from an angiogram that Seaks had actually died in the incident but was resuscitated using lifesaving efforts from those rendering immediate aid.
Lindsey Renken, Lindsey Dockter, Megan VanSon and Kyrah Duttenhefer
In January of 2022, Lindsey, Lindsey, Megan, and Kyrah were all traveling back to Bismarck-Mandan westbound on I-94. Just before Tower City, the girls who were traveling in multiple vehicles came upon a serious accident. The four women were able to render immediate First Aid on the scene, assisting the family involved. Kyrah rushed into action at the scene without hesitation and was a true leader in directing people as to where and how they could help. She kept calm in a tough situation. It took about 40 minutes for Fargo ambulances to arrive, however, a doctor who had been passing the accident stopped to help, as well as Bismarck Metro Ambulance. It was a group effort to respond. A loving mother and wife, Kelli, was lost that day. Her husband Tim, and their daughters are all here with us today.
Will Carr
Will Carr was traveling off duty and was a witness to a vehicle slamming into a concrete median on I-35 in Minnesota. The vehicle ended up getting hung up on the barrier, and the tires remained spinning as if the gas was still pressed. Will pulled over and quickly assessed the driver was having a seizure. Will, along with another bystander, was able to smash a window and eventually shut the vehicle off. Will worked to communicate with the driver of the vehicle after he came out of the seizure as they waited for medical personnel to arrive while also remaining on the phone with 911.
You can apply for the safety awards below from January through March each year.
Click on the categories below to see criteria and make nominations
Community Advancement Award
CRITERIA:
A. Organizational commitment to health and safety.
B. Employee and employee family health and safety programs on and off the job.
C. Community engagement around safety and health.
D. Must be new and different from previous year.
Emerging Safety Champion Award
This award is given to safety professionals who have been on the job less than 5 years, but have demonstrated a noticeable deep commitment to the safety culture of their organization.
CRITERIA:
Please attach a description of the nominee’s career accomplishments, as well as character and attributes, community involvement and dedication to safety.
Provide evidence supporting the nominee’s success as a safety professional, such as documented decrease in incident rates; number of people trained; programs implemented; obstacles they overcame to implement new programs (gaining support of upper management, acquiring additional funding, etc.); days/years without a lost time incident; or any other milestones reached during their career. Make sure to focus on the nominee, not the company.
Milestone Award
This award is given to MEMBER organizations showing an Experience Modification Rate* (EMR) of 1.0 or below for 5 consecutive years.
CRITERIA
A. The awards will be based on an EMR of 1.0 or below for a minimum of 5 years in a row.
B. Applicant must submit documentation from ND WSI verifying their EMR.
If your organization is too small for WSI to calculate your EMR, call us (701-223-6372) to discuss other qualifications.
SAFE Driver Award - Division 1 & 2
CRITERIA:
DIVISION 1
A. Individual must have a minimum of 3 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 100,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.
DIVISION 2
A. Individual must have a minimum of 3 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 500,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.
Click here to apply for the SAFE Driver Award – Division 1 & 2
Safety Improvement Award
CRITERIA:
A. Companies will be required to provide incidence rate from previous year and current year incidence rate.
B. The formula to determine your incidence rate is as follows:
Incidence Rate* = Total Recordable Cases x 200,000 ÷ Total Hours Worked by All Employees
(This does not include holiday hours or vacation hours)
*Incidence rate formula is equal to the total of all incidents recorded in columns G, H, I and J of the OSHA 300 log.
C. Submit a copy of your OSHA 300A.
D. Submit a summary describing steps taken to improve safety record and environment and how those steps directly affected the reduction in their OSHA Incident rate. Improvements must have taken place during the current award year.
Safety Management Excellence Award
CRITERIA:
A. 50% of supervisors have been trained in supervisory safety responsibilities such as OSHA 30 or other standardized safety leadership training. Must upload documentation of all training
B. Provide documentation of monthly safety meetings (minimum of 12) in 2022 where information reached 80% of employees, in person or electronically. Documentation should include log of meeting topics, dates held, and rosters.
C. Provide documentation showing proof 90% of employees in non-administrative roles are trained in Hazard Recognition and Reporting.
D. Submit a description of PROACTIVE safety programs implemented in the award year.
E. Submit the company’s Experience Modification Rate (EMR)* from Workers Compensation insurance provider for the award year. Must be 0.9 or below to qualify.
F. Must provide total number of employees, including number of supervisors and number of employees in non-administrative roles.
*WSI refers to this as Experience Modifier (MOD) and industry terminology is Experience Modification Rate (EMR). Note that this should be a decimal number not a percentage.
Click here to apply for the Safety Management Excellence Award
STAR Driver Award - Division 1 & 2
CRITERIA:
DIVISION 1
A. Individual must have a minimum of 10 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 250,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.
DIVISION 2
A. Individual must have a minimum of 10 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 1,000,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.
Click here to apply for the STAR Driver Award – Division 1 & 2
Outstanding Safety Instructor
CRITERIA:
A. Organizations or Individuals must have taught 10 NSC or OL courses, or made 10 presentations in 2022.
– OR –
B. Organizations or Individuals must have taught an NSC course or made an OL presentation to 150 students in 2022. This information can be obtained from the North Dakota Safety Council, if needed.
C. Submit copies of 5 evaluations. Once the award is submitted, the NDSC will review applications or evaluations to determine the impact the instructor has had on their students. This section not required for OL presenters.
Click here to apply for the Outstanding Safety Instructor award.
Workplace Safety Merit Award
CRITERIA:
A. The awards will be based on an EMR of 1.0 or below.
B. Applicant must submit documentation from ND WSI verifying their EMR.
If your organization is too small for WSI to calculate your EMR, call us (701-223-6372) to discuss other qualifications.
Safety & Health Awards Banquet
Each spring the NDSC presents awards to individuals and member companies who experienced growth and success in their safety programs.
Our 2023 Awards Banquet was be held on April 18 at the Bismarck Municipal Country Club.
Questions about the awards program?
Fill out the form below and Kristin will answer your questions.
