We’re excited to announce our 2025 Portage County Safety Award Winners!

We’ll be celebrating and honoring our winners at our next luncheon on Thursday, May 8, 2025, 11:30am-1:00pm, at the Ravenna Elks. Click here to register to attend.

2025 Safety Champion – Nate Walden, SHES Sr Manager, Synthomer Inc.

Nate has improved safety within Snythomer and has improved communication with Mogadore Fire, PC Hazmat Team and has become a member of the PC LEPC. While on the LEPC, Nate has shared his knowledge on chemicals, preparedness, emergency planning and selecting chemical monitoring and PPE. Nate and Snythomer have hosted an exercise to build preparedness within the community and emergency response groups. Nate understands the hazards and risks involved within Synthomer and how it could impact the community of Mogadore and Portage and Summit counties in general. He works daily to educate his co-workers to be vigilant and mindful in their duties to prevent spills or worse.

2025 Safety Improvement Award – Dawn Collins, Director, Portage County Recycling & Solid Waste Management District.

Over the past year, Director Dawn Collins has spent significant time rebuilding the Public Employee Risk Reduction Program at the PC Solid Waste Management District. Working alongside industrial safety consultant, Nic Coia, Dawn formulated committees with her employees to oversee the written policies and procedures to ensure buy-in with staff and to capture the actual processes related to work in the district and how to more safely conduct activities. In addition to CPR and First Aid, Dawn conducted training for all staff on new policies and precures, updated all PPE, and was awarded a safety grant to purchase a lift truck versus the use of ladders. She audited each section of her office and developed over a dozen written programs. This drastic shift in safety at the PCSWMD has significantly improved operations and the safety of staff district wide.

2025 Safety Innovation Award – Just 10 Minutes Program, Parker Hannifin Ravenna Plant.

The Just Ten Minutes program was developed to enhance Parker Hannifin’s new hire safety training. The “Just Ten Minutes” program is a daily safety conversation that a new team member has with a representative from EHS, Operations, and Engineering team (or anyone else who may volunteer to lead a Just Ten Minutes session with all new team members). Just Ten Minutes includes daily topics in Safety as a Value, Hazard Recognition, Choices and Behaviors, and Empowerment.

After a team member’s new hire orientation their first day, they must attend 20 “Just Ten Minutes” sessions in their Safety Dojo, which equates to 1 per shift for their first 20 days. New team members meet for Just Ten Minutes in the Safety Dojo at 7:45 am, 8:15 am, or 4:15 pm each day, depending on the shift they work.

The program is designed to train new team members on the behavioral side of safety, which has significantly helped them improve our safety culture. It also gives new team members a chance to meet with other new team members and leaders from different functions and areas and gives them a safe space to bring up anything of concern during that first month of employment.