Bureau of Reclamation's Pacific Northwest Region Recognized with 2016 Commissioner's Safety Award

Pacific Northwest Regional Director Lorri Gray receiving the 2016 Commissioner's Safety Award from Acting Commissioner David Murillo.The Pacific Northwest Region received the 2016 Commissioner's Safety Award in recognition of their demonstrated commitment to supporting and improving the safety of Bureau of Reclamation employees, contractors and visiting members of the public. Acting Commissioner David Murillo presented the award to Regional Director Lorri Gray at a recent Reclamation Leadership Team meeting.

Pacific Northwest Region leadership demonstrated commitment to safety by spearheading efforts to ensure safety of the public at Reclamation’s recreation facilities. They are also implementing a safety alert system to share lessons learned, accident information, instances of imminent danger and actions to protect Reclamation employees from potential workplace hazards.

Through the efforts of all employees, the Region implemented program evaluations, recommended corrective actions, and improved the facility evaluation process.

Thanks to the Region’s efforts to improve the safety program, they have experienced a 24.7 percent decrease in the recordable incident rate.

The Commissioner's Safety Award recognizes the Region for showing the greatest commitment to improving and implementing its safety program throughout the previous year. The award is presented annually by the Commissioner to the regional director of the selected region.

Award criteria are based on achievements across the Safety and Occupational Health Program in the areas of management leadership and employee participation; planning; implementation and operation; evaluation and corrective action; and management review.

Each Region is asked to submit a list of safety accomplishments across these criteria, which are then weighed in conjunction with injury and inspection rates to determine the winner.

Learn more about the Safety Program at https://www.usbr.gov/safety/.

Published on May 30, 2017