One million safe hours achieved again at Leland Olds Station

Employees of Leland Olds Station have achieved a major safety milestone, unmatched in the Basin Electric family.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - October 6, 2011

Employees at the Leland Olds Station near Stanton, ND, have bragging rights unmatched by any power plant in the Basin Electric generating family. They have achieved 1 million safe workhours without a DART incident twice. DART is an acronym for Days Away Restricted or Transferred, and it’s a measure of the severity of an injury that occurs in the workplace.

Mark Thompson, Leland Olds plant manager, said employees at the plant achieved 1 million workhours without a DART incident on April 7, 2010, and it’s still going. He said the tally as of Sept. 28 was 1,469,714 workhours. “Everyone at Leland Olds is involved in, and responsible for, safety. We hold regular safety meetings with all of our crews. We continually keep it at the forefront of our work,” he said. “However, if a specific safety issue needs attention, we address it immediately, through special safety meetings, job shutdowns, and action plans based upon what we uncover.”

The first million-hour safety record was achieved during the period of May 16, 1989, to Aug. 7, 1995, when employees reached 1.3 million workhours without a DART incident. The current record began Oct. 26, 2006.

There are 154 employees at Leland Olds Station.

“It is an amazing fact that we have worked safely in light of the workforce turning over,” Thompson said. “In the past five years that we have been working safely, Leland Olds has seen a 50 percent turnover of employees. The fact so many people have either joined the cooperative at Leland Olds, or entered new positions within the station, and have worked safely is a testament to our training programs, safety programs, and employee dedication to working safe.”

Top of page