Staff Writer
The Safety Works program of the Maine Department of Labor recently recognized the City of Caribou for its efforts in providing a safe work environment. At Monday evening’s Caribou City Council meeting, Department of Labor officials presented the City officials with a Safety and Health Award for Public Employers (SHAPE) certificate of achievement.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Caribou City Mayor Miles Williams, left, accepts the SHAPE award, presented by Maine Department of Labor representative, David Wacker, during Monday evenings city council meeting. The City of Caribou is the first in Maine to receive the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers certificate of achievement.
“This award represents Caribou’s high standards and employee involvement in creating a safe workplace,” said Laura Fortman, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Labor. (Fortman was not in attendance during the city council presentation of the SHAPE award, due to prior commitments in Augusta).
Presenting the award to Caribou Mayor Miles William, Department of Labor representative David Wacker said,” Not only is Caribou the Eastern Most City in the state of Maine, it is the first to receive this award.”
Caribou City Manager Steven Buck said, “The City utilized the Maine Department of Labor’s voluntary SHAPE program for a comprehensive review of our existing safety standards, facilities and operations as a proactive mechanism to further prevent lot time and improve our overall safety record. The City’s goals remain constant; to consistently improve work place safety and to save resources from a fiscal and human perspective by preventing work place accidents and lost time injuries.”
The SHAPE award is good for two years, Caribou’s renewal would be in 2010, Wacker stated,” You’ve completed the hard part, maintaining the program is the easy part.”
City Council member, Ken Murchison said,” We commend the staff, this is huge.”
The Safety and Health Award for Public Employers program offers incentives to public sector employers that take a proactive approach to workplace safety. The SHAPE certificate is granted to public sector employers who have demonstrated exemplary achievements in workplace safety and health by receiving a comprehensive safety and health consultation visit, correcting all workplace safety and health hazards, adopting and implementing effective safety and health management systems and agreeing to request further consultative visits if major changes in working conditions or processes occur that may introduce new hazards.
Safety Works! Is an outreach program of the Maine Department of Labor designed to reduce job-related injuries, illnesses and deaths. The program provided safety and health training to over 10,000 Maine workers last year and consultation services to hundreds of employers. Safety Works! Services are voluntary and offered free of charge.
