McKay, Blackfoot crew earn annual maintenance, safety awards

For practicing innovation and collaboration, Tom McKay of District 4’s Jerome Maintenance shed and the Blackfoot crew were named ITD’s maintenance and safety annual-award winners. The honors were bestowed Oct. 22 by the Idaho Transportation Board at its monthly meeting in Boise.

Maintenance award

McKay, a 10-year department employee, was honored for taking initiative to not only care for his own assigned winter maintenance in the Jerome area, but also for volunteering to assist in plowing every District 4 foreman area to provide safety and mobility on those highways. McKay is pictured above (left panel) with District Engineer Devin Rigby, ITD Director Brian Ness and Operations Engineer Walter Burnside.

“Tom has consistently stepped up to improve himself as an employee through training and additional work experiences,” said District 4 Operations Engineer Walter Burnside. “He has worked to improve ITD through the foundation of results-driven and accountable behaviors, innovative ideas and practices, and reliability to his duties.”

McKay (pictured at right) represents the District 4 Safety Committee group that developed and tested use of LED flares for incident response. Following a safety review of crashes along Interstate 84, his crew updated the standard for uniform application and spacing of delineation along exit-ramp gores in the Bliss and Jerome areas. He took the lead to increase the size of the reflective plates on the delineation. Both changes increase safety for both ITD workers and the traveling public.

In addition to maintenance, McKay also worked with the inspection and construction on several projects, most recently assisting in the two-year expansion of Idaho 75 near Ketchum.

“Tom looks for innovative practices and works to accomplish all tasks more quickly, efficiently and safely,” Burnside explained. “His effectiveness in communication and collaboration has improved the work output and overall success of his fellow employees.”

“Tom has a good work ethic and that transfers to others,” said Phil Etchart, Jerome/Bliss area foreman. “He has made a difference going to the ‘Blue’ culture here at ITD. He takes the lead on projects, takes calls at all times of the day and night, reviews projects and accidents for how we can get better and change, brings new ideas on how to get better, and is involved in equipment and employee training.”

Safety award

Jared Loosli, Ty Mashburn and Travis Smith (pictured at top, in right panel, with ITD Director Ness) — all from D5’s Blackfoot maintenance shed — were selected as safety persons of the year for solving a recurring problem of installing the wing on the John Deere 772CH Grader. Installing the wing each winter had always been a safety issue – it was awkward, unbalanced, heavy (350 lbs.), and heavier on one end than the other. 

“Over the years, it has always been a hassle to lift the mast into place,” said D5 Blackfoot Maintenance Foreman Randy Richards. “We had to use an overhead crane to swing the wing into place. But the arm that goes under the cab of the grader has had to be balanced on the blade and lifted into place, or balanced on the floor jack. The problem is it doesn't balance that well. Having it bent over under the grader is a bad place to try to strong-arm it.”

Just as necessity is the mother of invention, innovations usually come from looking at a problem in different ways and figuring out how to do things better. The Blackfoot crew decided that there had to be a better way to handle the installation. Pictured at right: Smith prepares the wing mounting.

After much discussion and many design changes, a basic plan took shape. The plan was to build a lifter to go onto the floor jack to lift the wing attachment into place. This “cradle” was preferable to using a loader or the blade of the grader to maneuver the wing into place, and safer by far than the previous method of installation.

The cradle was designed on paper and a pattern cut from cardboard. The pattern allowed the arm to set at just the right angle (the arm is not flat on the bottom) and leave room to install bolts.

The approved concept was then welded and fabricated. Straps held the unit more securely.

BENEFITS:
1. The arm set down into the cradle safely.
2. No more back-breaking lifting (the jack does all the heavy lifting).
3. Better and easier maneuverability for aligning bolt holes.
4. No running equipment, safer for many reasons — hydraulic failure, pinch
points, exhaust or employees in blind spots trying to pry and lift.
5. Installation time reduced from five hours to two hours.
6. Installation manpower reduced from four employees to two employees.
7. Removal of the wing is also quicker, easier and safer.
“All three employees were new members; older members on the crew had worked with installing the grader plow blade for years,” explained Richards. “The new employees have new ideas and solutions and older members have experience. The combination of the two groups working together solves amazing problems.” 

“I’m really proud of the initiative and ingenuity of these guys," said District 5 Engineer Ed Bala.

 


Published 10-23-15