Allied Environmental Services recently hosted its 12th annual Safety Day event.
The Ohio-based provider of specialized industrial maintenance and environmental contracting services held the Safety Day event Feb. 11-12 at its headquarters facility. It included classroom and hands-on training for all company employees.
Stephanie Neal, Allied’s corporate safety manager, said the annual safety celebration began more than a decade ago and has grown every year. Safety Day supports the company’s dedication to safe work practices—with a focus on worker training—which has been a priority for the firm since it was established in 1987.
“We actually decided to expand the event to two full days of training this year to include all necessary topics and make sure everyone received hands-on training with our equipment,” Neal said.
“Every team member needs to be conscious of the hazards in their work area and proper safety training is the foundation.”
The training sessions included defensive driving, confined-space entry and rescue, fall protection, lock-out/tag-out, lift operation, vac truck and hydro blaster operation, and other topics. The company also invited safety professionals from regional industrial manufacturing facilities to participate and present training topics.
“Having our customers and other professionals in to talk about safety practices and issues in their facilities helps a lot,” Neal said. “We get to learn about the safety challenges and expectations from the facility operator’s point of view.”
According to Neal, the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges in executing the training, as the company worked to ensure it strictly adhered to all COVID-19 protocols and recommendations. “We split into small groups for social distancing and masks were mandatory,” Neal explained. “Overall we had a safe and effective event, and we are already planning new things for next year.”