Pollution control facility earns New England Safety Award

HARTLAND — Monthly safety seminars at the Hartland Pollution Control Facility are conducted by the entire staff, not just the supervisors. That fact alone may have been a deciding factor in the plant’s recently earning a New England safety Award.

The George W. Burke Jr. Safety Award is presented annually by the New England Water Pollution Control Association.

The award was established in 1982 in honor of Burke for his many years of service to the water pollution control field and the Water Environment Federation as a staff manager of technical services. Burke was instrumental in developing the federation’s annual safety survey and assisting in the production of several safety training aids and promotional packets.

The purpose of the award is to encourage an active and effective safety program in municipal and industrial wastewater facilities, and to stimulate the collecting and reporting of injury data.

The documented and illustrated safety program and safety record of participating facilities for the preceding calendar year are the primary criteria for the award.

“That’s quite an honor,” said Hartland Facility Superintendent Dana Cooper. “to think that a tiny little treatment plant in Hartland, Maine, can compete against facilities in Boston or Hartford, and win.”

The safety program was developed by Cooper when he first joined the facility staff 10 years ago.

“That was my first assignment here. I might have taken it a little more seriously than someone else, because of my experience with the fire department,” he said. “I think I had more of a realization of what a potentially dangerous situation we could deal with here. We take in a serious waste and work equally serious chemicals.”

Cooper is the former chief of the Hartland Fire Department.

“We haven’t had any loss time accidents I can remember since I started here,” he said.

Initially, Cooper was instructing training seminars for the facility’s staff, but as his responsiblities and rise in position changed, he found less time for the program.

“About two years ago, I decided everyone could conduct these programs,” he said. “And, the others have identified new areas for safety training, so the whole plant is involved.”

Monthly safety training addresses work with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), materials safety data sheets (MSDS), confined spaces, truck, fire, chemical and tool safety. The program now includes five full-time employees and two part-time.

“This crew is more like a family. We all look out for each other. And, a lot of what they have put into this makes the program what it is today.”

Town Manager Peggy Morgan also is pleased with the recent award, acknowledging that it provided recognition for “some excellent employees.”