Supervisor Training

Approximately 40 Kansas City District supervisors participated in leadership training taught by Isaac Wambua on Friday, Feb. 24. According to Senior Human Resources Specialist Dennis Crego who arranged the training, "The purpose of this training was to explore the different areas of various supervisory skills such as management, communication, and leadership."

MoDOT hopes that this day-long training seminar provides additional skills and support to supervisors to help with all employees in the district. To do this, the seminar touched on topics like having difficult conversations, how to help employees be their best and keep improving themselves, and how to develop overall as a team.

Prepping For the Quake

Because earthquakes happen without warning, MoDOT’s best response is to be informed and prepared. To do this, Wednesday, Mar. 1, the department will host its annual statewide earthquake exercise beginning at 7:30 a.m. 

This exercise started 20 years ago and the goal is to test the department’s earthquake plan and preparation, and to identify the areas in which need improvement. A portion of our KC District workforce will be participating in next week’s exercise and will carry out certain assignments throughout the drill.

“The biggest threat we face regarding a major earthquake is the severe damage that may come with it,” explains Rick Bennett, a Traffic liaison engineer at MoDOT’s Central Office. “It could destroy buildings, bridges, and roadways. Additionally, it could cause major disruption to power impacting our telecommunications and medical facilities. As operators of the highway system, we as a team need to be prepared for this scenario so that we can get people in and out of the affected area as quickly and as safely as possible.”

February is Earthquake Awareness Month in Missouri. Missouri has on average 200 earthquakes a year. Although many are usually too miniscule to feel, the state experiences small earthquakes almost every single day. Earthquakes are usually more frequent within the New Madrid Seismic Zone in southeast Missouri but they also happen on additional faults (fractures in the earth’s crust) both in the state and the surrounding area.

While earthquakes are not predictable, research suggests that they do occur repeatedly. In fact, roughly every 18 months, a 4.0 earthquake on the Richter scale occurs; every 10 years, a 5.0 occurs; every 90-100 years, a 6.5 occurs, and so on. While we cannot say for certain when the next big earthquake will happen, science suggests it will and all we can do is be prepared.

Safety Shout: Safety Culture

What exactly is a Safety Culture? You’ve heard a lot of discussion about creating a culture of safety, but how is it defined and how do we know when we’re there? 
One way to understand safety culture is to look at it as peer pressure. 

Remember when you were back in school, how peer pressure affected every part of your life? How you dressed, your attitude, maybe even who you hung out with. If you have kids, they feel peer pressure every day too. 

We’re grown up now, but our adult behaviors and attitudes are still very much subject to peer pressure, especially at work. Creating a culture of safety simply involves steering peer pressure in workgroups toward the desired goals of zero mishaps, empowerment to speak up without embarrassment, and willingness to listen.

• A safety culture begins with you accepting personal responsibility for your own safety and to some extent, the safety of those around you. Look for ways to promote safe behavior and methods, instead of new and creative ways to make excuses. Be proactive instead of reactive. Anticipate and mitigate problems before they become mishaps or injuries, then have the moxie to discuss them before problems happen.
• Learn from mistakes; yours and those of others. Apply those lessons learned and share them with coworkers so they can apply them too. It’s
  
  been said the definition of insanity is doing the same old thing and expecting different results. There’s usually a better, safer way to do almost anything—find it.
• Follow all safety policies and best practices as if your life depends
• on it. Actually, it might.
• Remember most of our injuries involve actions that may not be a policy violation. No policy can cover everything, and most of the time you don’t need a policy to do what’s right. Be accountable on your own. Use your knowledge, experience and common sense to develop and apply safer methods, processes and materials.
• Speak up! Don’t let embarassment or fear rob you of the chance to save a life or prevent an injury. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been here thirty years or thirty minutes, you need to step up. Don’t drop the ball when it matters most. Okay, Travis Kelce?
• If a coworker or supervisor offers constructive criticism, don’t become defensive or angry, and don’t take it personally. Don’t sit back and wait for a chance to get even. Just try to have the good sense to realize that maybe they care about your safety.
• Understand cause and effect (some call it the “domino effect.”) Every action you take, or fail to take, has a reaction that affects your safety and the safety of others. Look far enough down the road to anticipate what that effect will be, then make good decisions based on safety as your first priority. Not more convenient, not easier, cooler or warmer, not necessarily faster…safer.

Over 130 department employees have been killed in the line of duty, two very recently. Thousands more have been seriously injured. Honor them in the most important and effective way possible—by not joining them. 

If you would like more information on what it takes to establish a culture of safety at MoDOT, contact district Risk Management staff.

Lee Ann Kell’s Farewell

Lee Ann Kell, a project manager at MoDOT KC, celebrated her retirement from the department on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the MoDOT KC District Office. Lee Ann leaves MoDOT with an outstanding 29 years of service.

Many co-workers and retirees of the department joined Lee Ann for her retirement celebration to wish her well. Additionally, Lee Ann’s husband Ken and her brother and sister also attended the event. Co-workers shared stories and nice comments about working with Lee Ann, and a plaque presentation was held.

Lee Ann says that her favorite parts of working for the department were the people she to worked with and that her job always challenged and pushed her to be better. “Time goes by so quickly when you love what you do and the people you work with,” explains Lee Ann. She plans to spend the next chapter of her life traveling with her husband, visiting friends and family, and volunteering around the community.

Lee Ann Kell Bids Farewell to MoDOT (Photo Gallery)

Employees Welcome in the KC Scout Center

KC Scout employees frequently play host to groups who want a tour of the only

true bi-state traffic management center. But sometimes it's an employee who wants to peruse the traffic hub "theater."

Last week Carlos, an employee at the Skiles facility was in the District Office for training  and asked if he could bring his family in for a tour. His wife and  five children (oldest 9, youngest 3) received a private tour of the center after work.  

The kids asked terrific questions about keeping Dad safe when he’s working.  

If you are interested in bringing your family in for a tour, or bringing your team, call us at 816-622-6500! KC Scout staff is always ready and willing to share the behind the scenes secrets. 

Innovations Challenge Finalists Announced!

Kansas City District will have TEN innovations heading to Springfield for the Innovations Showcase April 17 & 18.  Congratulations to all our innovators!  We had many great innovations with statewide potential that didn’t make it due to a limited number of spots at the Showcase.  

Here is KC’s slate for Springfield. Click the title and watch a short video about the innovation:

• Audit Bricks by Brian Burger, James Pflum, Perry Allen & Josh Motti
• Green LED TMA Lighting by Chris Zurn, Will Brewster & Doug Parson
• TMA Flagger by David Eppright, Russell Fisher, Travis Teter & Chris Zurn
• Herby Dog by Danny Woods
• Aerial Bucket IndicatorLighting by Calvin Kenslow
• Tailgate Latch Guardby David Eppright & Cliff Everts
• Rural Queue Warning System by Mark Sommerhauser, Brandon Campbell, Chris Engelbrecht, Stuart Harlan, Jon Nelson, Raymond Shank & Julie Stotlemeyer
• Navigation/Tower LightRemote Monitoring System by Derek Olson & Scott Brelsford
• Diverging Diamond Interchange Signal Timing by Adam Wood
• Guard Rail/Cable Contract Reconnaissance by Don Hall, Brian Burger, Perry Allen, Connie Phipps

Engineers Dream Big During National Week of Recognition.

This year, one of the themes of Engineers Week is Dream Big. So we took a moment to talk to our 

female engineers about what it took to find success in their career.

The number of women with engineering degrees continues to climb but still only comprise 20 percent of the industry.  So we interviewed five successful women engineers at various stages of their career who dared to dream big. 

Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1Dr8HDDxI

Watch Facebook and Twitter for more info on our engineers during Engineers Week. 

Looking for the Best and Brightest

Members of the Human Resources Department at the district office have been gassing up the car and getting out and about, looking for new talent. 

In recent days, staff members have been attending careers fairs, looking for potential new hires.

On Friday, Feb. 17 Human Resource Specialist Tanese Booze and Traffic Operations Engineer Griffin Smith made a stop at UMKC. 

They were there to take part in the Business, Computing and Engineer Career Fair held at the Kansas City campus.

It was the perfect chance for Smith to speak with engineering students about the great opportunities at MoDOT.

The HR department has also made recent stops to University of Kansas and Kansas State University. 

Safety Shout: Safe Excavation

An excavation is defined as any work that breaks the surface of the ground, whether deep or shallow. Great care must be taken for all excavation work, but it is particularly important if workers are in or around a trench or hole. Up to 400 fatalities and 4000 serious injuries occur in the US every year due to excavation accidents, most of which are completely preventable by following basic safety rules.

• Missouri law requires a locate request be placed before beginning any excavation, including MoDOT work. Place a locate request at 1-800-DIG-RITE (800-344-7483) or 811, or online using Internet Ticketing at http://www.mo1call.com
• MoDOT employees must be adequately trained before entering an excavation more than four feet deep. Training is available upon supervisory request. Any employee has the authority to stop a job immediately if they perceive a cave-in threat or any other dangerous condition.
• All trenches are excavations, but not all excavations are trenches. A 
  
  trench is a narrow excavation where the depth is greater than the width. Dangers include cave-in, explosion (gas lines), electrocution (power lines), being struck by heavy equipment, and dropped load hazards. Special safety rules for trenching must be followed. 
• Cave-in is the greatest threat, so some trenches must be strengthened by proper shoring. A typical dirt trench collapse places about 100 pounds of weight on a worker’s ankles, but about 800 pounds at chin level. Even if his head is not buried, he will suffocate in minutes due to the dead weight on his chest which prevents breathing. A cubic yard of soil weighs 2700 pounds, so no human is strong enough to handle it. There’s no fast way to rescue a buried worker without the rescuer also risking becoming a victim. Most rescue personnel are trained not to try. Body recovery is usually the only option. A far better option is to take the precautions necessary to prevent a cave-in from happening in the first place.
• In most excavations, you should dig the last two feet in all directions by hand rather than by machine. Location data is notoriously unreliable when it comes to old lines, pipes, conduits, etc. Digging the last bit by hand allows greater accuracy and helps you find nasty unexpected surprises like gas or power lines in time to prevent rupturing them.
• All trenches and holes eventually collapse. The process varies with moisture, soil type, dig shape, and the weight of heavy equipment near the edges of the excavation. If you’re not sure how these dynamics affect your dig, do your homework prior to attempting an excavation. 

Most MoDOT excavation jobs are limited in nature, but even jobs like culvert replacement carry risks. Good planning and strict adherence to safety rules is key to going home safely, you dig? 

If you would like more information on excavation safety, contact district Risk Management staff.

Making the World a Little Sweeter

Senior Maintenance Worker Jerome Burgett is making life a little sweeter every day for everyone around him. 

Burgett has a passion for two things in life outside of his family and his job - and that's people and cooking. The lucky workers at the Belton Maintenance facility are frequent recipients of Burgett's baking and cooking efforts, like today. 

He decided to recognize and surprise his co-workers who have led the way in safety with a streak of no recordables or incidents. 

So on his day off he made and brought in six homemade cakes and nine banana puddings. 

What a sweet surprise indeed. "We are like a family here," Burgett says about his Belton crew.

Burgett says he has been cooking and baking since he was 17 and he loves making people happy. He has been known to bring in a sweet treat to others as well. 

Today, he also surprised Human Resources Manager Deborah Hogan with her favorite cake just for fun. 

And he mentioned a time last summer when a kind law enforcement officer stopped and offered their Belton crew more water on a hot day. 

Burgett appreciated that kind gesture so much that he made a pie for the officer and dropped it off as a thank you. 

 Lemon Bundt Cake. (Right)

 Chocolate Heart Cake (Left)

Red Velvet Heart Cake (Right)

From all of us in the Kansas City District to Mr. Jerome Burgett, thanks for making life a little sweeter.