NDSC ANNUAL SAFETY & HEALTH AWARDS

Every year, NDSC gives you the chance to honor those who put safety first, and have your company and individual employees be recognized for achievements in creating a positive safety culture.

Save the Date!

Mark your calendars to attend the 2025 NDSC Safety & Health Awards Banquet.

April 22nd, 2025

12:00-1:15 pm

Bismarck Municipal Golf Course, Lady J’s

You can nominate someone for the Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award & Lifesaver Award all year long!

Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award

One award is presented annually to an individual who has been instrumental in the development and implementation of safety programs, and honors those forward-looking individuals who, over the long-term, place safety and innovation at the forefront of their activities. Named after Duane Kuehn, who worked in the safety industry for 40 years and whose attitude and compassion demonstrate the characteristics of an outstanding safety professional, this award recognizes an individual within public safety who has gone above and beyond their daily duties and who exemplifies the mission of the NDSC.

The Deadline to Apply is January 24, 2025

Download Nomination form

Send the nomination form and any other documents to kristinw@ndsc.org

During the NDSC’s 51st Annual Safety + Health Conference, Patty Furuseth was presented the 2023 Duane Kuehn Outstanding Safety Professional Award. Furuseth is a Personal Safety Professional with Marathon Petroleum Corporation.

Lifesaver Award

This award is presented to individuals who have acted above and beyond the call of duty to assist and/or rescue another individual(s). The act may have occurred in the workplace or elsewhere.

Nominate someone for the Lifesaver Award

Safety Awards

You can apply for the safety awards below from January through March each year. This year’s deadline is MARCH 21, 2025.

Click on the categories below to see criteria and make nominations

Community Advancement Award

CRITERIA:

A. Organizational commitment to health and safety.
B. Employee and employee family health and safety programs on and off the job.
C. Community engagement around safety and health.
D. Must be new and different from previous year.

Emerging Safety Champion Award

This award is given to safety professionals who have been on the job less than 5 years, but have demonstrated a noticeable deep commitment to the safety culture of their organization.

CRITERIA:

Please attach a description of the nominee’s career accomplishments, as well as character and attributes, community involvement and dedication to safety.

Provide evidence supporting the nominee’s success as a safety professional, such as documented decrease in incident rates; number of people trained; programs implemented; obstacles they overcame to implement new programs (gaining support of upper management, acquiring additional funding, etc.); days/years without a lost time incident; or any other milestones reached during their career. Make sure to focus on the nominee, not the company.

Milestone Award

This award is given to MEMBER organizations showing an Experience Modification Rate* (EMR) of 1.0 or below for 5 consecutive years.

CRITERIA

A. The awards will be based on an EMR of 1.0 or below for a minimum of 5 years in a row.
B. Applicant must submit documentation from ND WSI verifying their EMR.

If your organization is too small for WSI to calculate your EMR, call us (701-223-6372) to discuss other qualifications.

SAFE Driver Award - Division 1 & 2

CRITERIA:

DIVISION 1

A. Individual must have a minimum of 3 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 100,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.

DIVISION 2

A. Individual must have a minimum of 3 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 500,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.

Safety Improvement Award

CRITERIA:

A. Companies will be required to provide incidence rate from previous year and current year incidence rate.

B. The formula to determine your incidence rate is as follows:
Incidence Rate* = Total Recordable Cases x 200,000 ÷ Total Hours Worked by All Employees
(This does not include holiday hours or vacation hours)

*Incidence rate formula is equal to the total of all incidents recorded in columns G, H, I and J of the OSHA 300 log.

C. Submit a copy of your OSHA 300A.

D. Submit a summary describing steps taken to improve safety record and environment and how those steps directly affected the reduction in their OSHA Incident rate. Improvements must have taken place during the current award year.

Safety Management Excellence Award

CRITERIA:

A. 50% of supervisors have been trained in supervisory safety responsibilities such as OSHA 30 or other standardized safety leadership training. Must upload documentation of all training

B. Provide documentation of monthly safety meetings (minimum of 12) in 2024 where information reached 80% of employees, in person or electronically. Documentation should include log of meeting topics, dates held, and rosters.

C. Provide documentation showing proof 90% of employees in non-administrative roles are trained in Hazard Recognition and Reporting.

D. Submit a description of PROACTIVE safety programs implemented in the award year.

E. Submit the company’s Experience Modification Rate (EMR)* from Workers Compensation insurance provider for the award year. Must be 0.9 or below to qualify.

F. Must provide total number of employees, including number of supervisors and number of employees in non-administrative roles.

*WSI refers to this as Experience Modifier (MOD) and industry terminology is Experience Modification Rate (EMR). Note that this should be a decimal number not a percentage.

STAR Driver Award - Division 1 & 2

CRITERIA:

DIVISION 1
A. Individual must have a minimum of 10 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 250,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.

DIVISION 2
A. Individual must have a minimum of 10 years experience operating company vehicle.
B. Individual must have driven a minimum of 1,000,000 miles incident free.
C. Provide documentation showing current cell phone and seatbelt policies.

Outstanding Safety Instructor

CRITERIA:

A. Organizations or Individuals must have taught 10 NSC or OL courses, or made 10 presentations in 2024.

– OR –

B. Organizations or Individuals must have taught an NSC course or made an OL presentation to 150 students in 2024. This information can be obtained from the North Dakota Safety Council, if needed.

C. Submit copies of 5 evaluations. Once the award is submitted, the NDSC will review applications or evaluations to determine the impact the instructor has had on their students. This section not required for OL presenters.

Workplace Safety Merit Award

CRITERIA:

A. The awards will be based on an EMR of 1.0 or below.
B. Applicant must submit documentation from ND WSI verifying their EMR.

If your organization is too small for WSI to calculate your EMR, call us (701-223-6372) to discuss other qualifications.