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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-2006 2006 Evan J. Sears Award Recipient Announced c ti UTn 1865 Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE Wednesday,Jane 21,2006 Contact: Gary Gilot, Director of Public Works, 235-5923, or Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications& Special Projects, 235-5855 2006 EVAN J. SEARS AWARD RECIPIENT ANNOUNCED Mayor Stephen J. Luecke and Marci Sears today presented the 2006 Evan J. Sears Award. This memorial scholarship was created in honor of Evan J. Sears, an intern with the Bureau of Traffic and Lighting, who was killed in a traffic accident while working in a city street during the summer of 1999. While remembering and still grieving the loss of Evan Sears, the City strives to turn tragedy into triumph. Mayor Luecke emphasized that safety of its citizens is the City's most vital concern. Mayor Luecke thanked Marci Sears, Evan's mother, for her continued efforts to partner with the City in selecting the recipient of the annual scholarship in Evan's memory and in promoting safety for City workers. Mayor Luecke stated that the scholarship "lets the City reinforce the importance of safety while celebrating the memory of Evan." Ms. Sears stated that"It is a great consolation to me and my family that Evan's name is forever linked with the effort and act of safe work environments, both in their creation and maintenance." Mrs. Sears continued by saying "his memory is honored by this annual event to encourage and reward safety as it is demonstrated by young people working for the City of South Bend. I am especially thrilled this year that through the generosity of Mayor Luecke,we are able to award 2 scholarships to very deserving individuals" This year the two outstanding scholarship winners are Jenna Plawinski and Lindsey Smith. Jenna is employed with the Engineering Department. She attends - more - Indiana University where she is pursuing a degree in Education. Jenna's essay emphasizes how we must all constantly educate ourselves and be aware of safety responsibilities while on the job. Jenna is the second member of her family to be an Evan J. Sears Scholarship recipient, as her brother Todd was an award winner in 2003. Lindsey works for the Department of Water Works. She attends Ball State University. Lindsey's essay reminds all motorists that while the safety precautions taken by City workers on the streets may cause small inconveniences in commutes,they are important for keeping workers safe and should be respected. In addition to sponsoring the Evan J. Sears Scholarship,the City continues its commitment to improving safety practices and performance. Safety training is conducted for each employee at the New Employee Orientation, and Summer Interns who are hired with the Department of Public Works are not allowed to begin work without adequate safety training. The City of South Bend has implemented a written safety policy on training,which is conducted for new and regular employees as regulated by local, state and federal laws. Follow-up training, as the need arises, is conducted for employees performing required duties working in traffic areas. The City also provides training on proper use of safety equipment and ensures the issuance of proper safety equipment, such as safety vests, safety glasses and safe work shoes. Past recipients of the annual Evan J. Sears Memorial Scholarship Award were: Dustin Hartman 2001 Lamond Brown 2002 Todd Plawinski 2003 Bridget Sniadecki 2004 Eric Baierl 2005 - 30 - Evan J. Sears Annual I e oti l Scholarship Essay By: J enna Plawinski When I returned to my internship for a second year with the City of South Bend, I felt confident that I knew what I would be doing in airy job as a GIS intern. I quickly realized that I was riot the least bit prepared when I reported for the first day. While I thought that I would need some srefreshing" about tine equipment and the computer prograrns that I would be working with, I vas instead, reminded that the first priority in ley workplace is safety. T'hc utmost important topic in the agenda for craployccs of the city, and the inayo° especially, was for us to learn about safety. 1 respect the fact that the euithority figures within the city snake it a i:aandato v orientation and that they care about their employees. I grew up in a home where I had always been very careful and responsible for lily actions. I am still reminded daily by my parents "Wear your seat belt, be careful driving, park the car so you will not have to back up." Since my dad has learned to text message he sends me short messages, "R U wearing your safety vest? Your seat beit? B safe." Though 1 have received reminders over a thousand tunes, one can never be too cautious, and it only takes a, second to let your mind wander before you can get into a serious accident. It is comforting to know that while I am working hard for the city, they are mainly concerned for my well being. In my orientation meeting I was made aware of how to keep myself and others around me safe. Sometimes people may feel that they do not need to be reminded about safety tips, but no one can ever hear them enough. It is a tragedy that it took the death of an intern to bring this to the city's foremost attention, and at the same time they must have realized that preventing accidents is a serious topic for each and every employee. Safety in the workplace is the most important thing no matter what the job. I feel that learning about safety and feeling comfortable going out in the field is the most crucial of all tasks to be aware of. It says a lot that employees for the city take time out of their day to teach each of us interns this information. If it were not for the upper management of city officials and Mrs. Sears caring about our safety, we would never have the chance to learn the safety rules that we now follow. We not only have to look out for ourselves, we have to loom out for each other and with the help of the safety orientation we attended we can now do so. Thanks to the workers of the city and Mrs. Sears understanding how to reach the lives of employees, we realize how safety must be involved with the actions of our everyday events. Lindsey Smith I have been working for the Water Works Department for three summers now and over that time I have realized how important safety is in the work place. Although painting fire hydrants might not seem like a dangerous job, there is always the potential for something to happen. Usually my partner and I do what is necessary to keep ourselves safe. Safety means thinking about and planning for what caulci happen. Most people believe that something bad "could never happen to them". That is, until it does happen to them. Not all accidents are preventable or even possibly foreseeable, but.it does help to realize that you aren't indestructible. Then plans can be made in case something actually does happen. I take simple precautions everyday such as wearing my reflective vest,putting the truck between traffic and our work area or even just turning on the truck's emergency lights so that people know that something is going on. I take these precautions because it is entirely possible that someone who isn't paying attention could end up crashing into our work area. However, precautions can only take you so far and safety also involves just being aware of your surroundings. Being out in traffic, especially downtown, is probably the most dangerous aspect of our job. Most times, it's necessary to inconvenience other motorists in order to protect ourselves. They see it as an annoyance, don't understand why we're in their way and usually feel free to let us know it. Sometimes it is stressful, but our lives are definitely more important than getting a few more people to work on time. Since most people don't understand what's going on when work is being done, I'm on the defensive while working in heavy traffic areas. A lot of drivers aren't paying attention, are being careless or even reckless. Some people don't notice or don't care about people standing in the road or mere feet from the roadway. Therefore, it's my responsibility to make sure that I'm being as safe as possible. I remember in my driver's education class we learned to be a defensive driver. That means to lookout not just for your own mistakes, but others too. The point was that it's not enough to just be a good driver because there are many other people on the roads who might not be. But if you are paying attention,you might have that extra second to react which could end up saving your life. It would be nice if everyone would participate in making the roads safer for those of us who are working on them. Within the departments of the city, we should already be looking out for each other, but others in the community should be too; there's safety in numbers. But we're still human and everyone makes mistakes. Accidents will always happen no matter what precautions are taken or how well we think rve"re looking out for ourselves and each other. However, making safety in the workplace a priority lessens the frequency and degree of injuries. It opens our eyes and makes our lives seem so fragile. It makes us work harder every day to keep ourselves and those around us safe from harm. Because our lives are so fragile,we have to make sure we do all we can to keep them intact.