SERMA Commends SHA for Commitment to Worker Safety          
          
(June 4, 2008) - Recently, at the Maryland State Employee Risk Management Association (SERMA) awards ceremony hosted at Morgan State University, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) was recognized for its commitment to the safety of its employees and contractors. SHA’s Management Team was recognized with an Award of Excellence for success in moving closer to its vision to provide the safest workplace possible by providing training courses, establishing policies and guidelines, and achieving quantifiable reductions in lost-time cases.           
          
Additionally, the team’s sponsor SHA’s Deputy Administrator/ Chief of Operations Chief Doug Rose was honored for his leadership in workplace safety with the Linda Brooks Safety Award, given to one individual statewide each year, who demonstrates outstanding performance and commitment to risk management and occupational safety in Maryland state government. This is SERMA’s highest award for individual achievement.          
          
“It is clear that the safety of its workers, as well as its customers, is a top priority at the Maryland State Highway Administration,” said Lisa Kruska, SERMA Chairperson and Assistant Vice President of the Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund. “SHA sets an example for other agency executives around the State in placing employee safety as a priority and dedicating the time, support and financial resources necessary to secure worker safety.”           
          
“The safety - of both our customers and workers – is our number one priority,” said SHA Administrator Neil J. Pedersen and the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “We are uncompromising when it comes to improving safety, but it’s the men and women working in challenging conditions everyday who deserve praise for their unyielding personal commitment to safety. SHA proudly accepts these awards on their behalf for carrying out our workplace safety vision and making it a reality.”          
          
Deputy Administrator Doug Rose and the SHA Safety Management Team earned accolades for SHA’s new high visibility apparel program put in place to improve the safety of employees in hazardous roadway work zones. The new yellow-green T-shirts, jackets and vests enhance worker visibility in contrast to their surrounding environment of orange cones, signs and other traffic devices. Proper uniform for workers now feature fluorescent yellow-green T-shirt or in colder weather, a fluorescent yellow-green jacket marked with large, reflective strips on the arms, chest and back.           
          
Now that the program is fully adopted and new garments have been deployed, SHA reports positive results.           
          
“Since adopting high-visibility primary apparel we’ve seen dramatic improvements in how workers are dressed and how much more visible they are, versus when they simply were asked to don a vest over non-compliant garments,” says Samuel P. Hall, SHA’s Safety Management Team Leader.           
          
During fiscal year 2007, other improvements have included a 14 percent decrease in lost-time cases, a five percent decrease in claims reported to IWIF and a three percent decrease in recordable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cases.          
          
          
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