Name: Ann M. Lindsey
Company Name: Municipality of Anchorage
City: Anchorage, AK
Number of Employees: ~ 202

Nomination Essay:

Ann is the Safety Coordinator for the Municipality of Anchorage Maintenance and Operations Department. She has various duties in this role, one of which being "Trainer". This Department houses various unions (IBEW; Operators; Plumbers; Machinists; AMEA) non-represented employees and executives. All of these employees have very different responsibilities. She conducts safety meetings every month for all of these groups. Sometimes each group is presented with a different topic and each session lasts 1 - 1 1/2 hours. She manages to present each topic with a fresh perspective making sure everyone learns something new at each meeting.

She trains Bloodborne Pathogen classes; Accident Investigation sessions - (At one class she took actual submitted accidents and cut out the descriptions of the accidents in those sections (minus names), and taped them under the table at each place setting. After she had covered information on the submittal forms, she called out individuals sitting in each place, to read their paper how an accident had been submitted; what might have been missing; and what she added to make the report "stand alone" - it was a great session!) and many other safety subjects required.

Working in the public sector for a Department that generates no revenue - she has had to make the most of it; she puts each session together herself with handouts/ quizzes as needed and always shows up about an hour early to make sure everything is working and she has things staged just right for the training.

At a "procedural safety" meeting session, she placed a cord on the floor at the front of the table holding the sign-in sheet. Half way through the session after discussing procedures that everyone knows, yet chooses to perform a different way - or noticing something and choosing not to fix / report - she mentions the cord lying on the floor that noone picked up when they signed in - everyone remembers this session now; but when they heard the topic, they each thought What? It was one of the most powerful meetings!

One great thing about being the Safety Coordinator and Trainer - when she hears of a problem in the field, she works on methods to resolve the issue. She instituted the "Safety Tips" program for men to leave suggestions or describe a potential problem or better way to do something.

Maintenance and Operations includes Street Maintenance (handling roadway / trail repairs / maintenance and snow removal / plowing); Fleet Maintenance (handling the Municipality's Fleet of vehicles and heavy equipment from police cars to graders for snow removal); Capital Projects (handling bldg expansions to new construction); Project Management (handling contracts of companies providing service to the Municipality); and Facility Maintenance (providing the hotline to the city for repair/ maintenance of City owned buildings). As you can see, a very diverse work force with safety topics ranging from Roadway Safety; Electrical Protocols to Office Ergonomics.

The men have come to seek her out to correct problems / safety issues they deal with on a daily basis. She has earned their trust and when an injury does happen, she calls them at home checking on them and maintains light duty available for them to work their way back to full duty. Other Departments throughout the city utilize her for light duty and have requested her to perform their training as well.

I believe Ann is an excellent candidate for this award. She puts a lot of time and effort into her job and it shows in her rapport with the workers and respect of co-workers. She is always seeking ways to further safety throughout the city; with the assistance of others, there is now a safety logo for the Municipality of Anchorage. She would be an excellent recipient of this prestigious award!