PRESQUE ISLE, ME — The Maine Department of Labor has renewed an award to Northern Maine Community College for its record of safety as well as its policies, procedures and training dealing with safety issues.
The Safety and Health Award for Public Employers (SHAPE) recognizes public-sector organizations that voluntarily undertake a rigorous safety achievement program for its workers. NMCC is the only college or university campus in Maine that has earned the honor.
“Safety is an ongoing focus at NM,” according to Barry Ingraham, director of physical plant and technology. “We’ve implemented weekly inspections of all of our buildings to look for potential hazards; an active safety committee investigates and finds solutions to safety problems; and we’ve created an electronic system to manage all chemicals on campus.
“We’ve also created an energy control procedures manual which includes photos of equipment and how to properly lock and tag them out,” Ingraham said.
“We’re very proud that our hard work to keep students and staff safe is paying off with real results that we see every day on campus,” said NMCC President Tim Crowley. “We integrate safety in everything we do and we’re pleased that our commitment is being recognized by this significant award.”
This is the second time the Labor Department has recognized NMCC with their highest honor for promoting and consistently improving safety and health conditions. The SHAPE award is given to employers only after a thorough review and inspection of the employer’s policies and procedures by a SafetyWorks! consultant. The state consultants consider factors such as clean air, noise exposures, radiation levels and worker injuries.
