By Renee Worthing 

Staff Writer 

The town of Kennebunk is one of only two towns in Maine to receive a health and safety award from the Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards.

The Safety and Health Award for Public Employers (SHAPE) program offers incentives to public sector employers that take a proactive approach to workplace safety.

Although the award recognized the entire town, a SHAPE plaque was presented to Kennebunk Fire Chief Stephen Nichols, Sr. during the March 12 Board of Selectmen meeting,

“This is not an easy award to win,” Maine Department of Labor Director of Work Place Safety and Health David Wacker said.

He said after receiving an evaluation form, the Department of Labor sent a consultant to evaluate the town “stem to stern” based on everything from basic safety and health guidelines to employee training requirements.

   “They must meet Occupational Health and Safety Administration standards,” Wacker said. “They must have written evacuation plans and hazardous materials guidelines.”

   He said written policies must be up-to-date and hazards identified by the consultant must be corrected.

The buildings also undergo a physical inspection, Wacker said.

“It takes about a month to do a proper inspection,” he said. “We go through every record.”

Nichols, who coordinated the pre-inspection efforts, also wrote the safety handbook for the entire town.

“It was time-consuming,” Nichols said, adding he spent about four weeks writing the handbook during a four month period.

But, Nichols said he couldn’t take all the credit receiving the SHAPE award.

“The department heads, I have to praise them,” Nichols said. “Mark Pardue, Andy Belisle, Brian Costello, Mike Claus, Scott Wentworth, David Cluff, everyone.”

He said staff from all town departments assisted in every aspect of readying the town for inspection.

Nichols said some issues needed to be addressed, including the use of power strips and adding railings to stairs.

He said an engineer was contracted to calculate the “floor loading” of various mezzanines, which were posted with maximum weight loads.

Nichols said a mission statement for the town was drafted, as well as emergency response plans for hazardous and bio-hazardous materials. Policies for town employees working in high areas such as atop ladders were also written.

Nichols drew and posted evacuation routes for all town buildings and wrote the lockout-tag out policy that which protects individuals from being injured while working on electrical or mechanized equipment.

He said Kennebunk had to invest in items such as ear protection for the parks and recreation department and hard hats for other employees.

The police department was required to have traffic safety vests and bulletproof vests, Nichols said.

Policies were written that addressed workplace harassment and for receiving packages and letters that might contain a suspicious substance.

“We figured if we were going to do this, we might as well do the whole town in one sweep,” Nichols said.

He said while the town had to spend some money to meet criteria for the SHAPE award, money would ultimately be saved with less work place injuries.

“We would also spend less money spent on overtime for employees who had to fill in for someone who was hurt,” Nichols said.

He said receiving the SHAPE award would also result in lower Maine Municipal Association insurance fees.

“Everyone was really patient in getting it done,” Nichols said. “We worked together. It was really a good exercise in case we do have to address something.”

Each town department schedules an annual refresher course on workplace safety, he said.

Anyone who blatantly fails to follow safety procedures faces disciplinary action and a refresher course, he said.

Wacker said Kennebunk’s dedication to provide a safe work environment means fewer employees would be injured on the job.

“They (the town) are exempt from any scheduled Bureau of Labor inspection for two years,” Wacker said.

However, he said if a fatal accident or an accident requiring hospitalization occurs within Kennebunk-owned or operated buildings, an investigation would take place.

In accordance with the SHAPE program, the town of Kennebunk has agreed to notify the Department of Labor Workplace Safety and Health Division before making any changes to the working environment.

“I applaud you for this,” Wacker told the town selectmen.

He urged town officials to encourage other towns to participate in the program.

Brunswick was the first town to receive the award Feb. 20. Wacker said Bangor and Caribou applied for the SHAPE award as well.