Moscow crew launches “Bud Bar” with homemade video

An injury sustained by a transportation technician in another district inspired an operations crew in District 2 to fix it and say something about it.

After a rock got jammed in the tailgate of his truck, an employee pinched his hand wrestling it loose. The injury happened a day before a leadership conference, and the story circulated among operations foremen.

For one of the foremen, this was all too familiar.

“In the last 32 years, I’ve worked with three guys who had done the same thing and heard of many others in different districts,” said Bud Converse, operations foreman for Moscow in District 2. “Why haven’t we fixed this thing?”

Converse was still mulling it over after the conference.

“I think the issue is that there is nothing handy to help when needed,” Converse said.

He went to his crew with a possible solution, and within a few hours they had welded a pipe to the truck, painted it to match and placed a bar in the newly attached pipe. The bar rests within reach of the back of the truck and can be used to wedge open an obstructed tailgate without endangered anyone’s fingers.

“My crew is calling it the Bud Bar,” Converse said. “I don’t know if it will fix the issue, but it can’t hurt.”

Besides seeing the safety concern and taking steps to address it in their own area, the Moscow crew made a message to share with other districts.

Watch the video to see the Bud Bar in action. Video shot by Don Nickles, with Tim Frisbey and Dave Vance as actors. Vance is the guy in the orange shirt, while Frisbey is the one who smacks him with his hat. David Gisler and Lance Gau assisted with the creation of the Bud Bar.

“I hope all districts take hold of this,” Converse said. “After all, this year is the year of employee safety.”

Published 05-25-18