Inspector's Safety Awards

In 2006, the Oklahoma Department of Mines created the Inspector's Safety Award. Recipients are chosen on an established set of criteria that rewards operators for safe mining practices. These criteria include number of violations, reduction in violations from the previous year, and warnings. ODM Inspectors are assigned a portion of the state to work, with an average of over 50 permits per Inspector. Each Inspector reviews the criteria and determines a "large" mine and a "small" mine for his territory. For the purpose of this award, a large mine has more than five employees and a small mine has five or fewer employees on site. Contractors do not count toward the total and the site has to be manned.  The time frame is from July 1 to June 30 and the awards are presented each year at the Oklahoma Mine Health and Safety Conference.  Instead of plaques, which no one entering a mine site ever sees unless they go inside the office, ODM decided to make the awards more visible by using 30" by 36" road signs put together by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's Sign Shop. These have been a much coveted item and ODM is proud to recognize those operators that make safety a priority.