Four members of the Facilities Roofing/Sheetmetal shop were recently honored as the recipients of PPD’s inaugural R.E.A.C.T. Award. The award, created as part of PPD’s Employee Recognition program, seeks to recognize employees who “Recognize an Event and Act to Correct in a Timely manner”. Les Bloomfield, Lamar Sims, Richard Thomas and Paul Vlahos were nominated for the award by Facilities Superintendent Bill Mikulski. They were recognized for their efforts at a recent PPD Executive Council meeting, and presented with plaques commemorating their work.
Mikulski explained, “I received a call on October 10, 2007 from Paul Vlahos, stating that there was a loose piece of 5x2 metal wall panel sliding around on the east side of Turlington Hall, Building 267. I met with Paul and Richard Thomas, and we went up on the roof of the building to see what could be done to secure the panel. That area is a high traffic area for pedestrians, with a sidewalk that runs underneath it, and the panel was in danger of falling off and injuring someone walking in the area.”
Vlahos, Thomas and Les Bloomfield blocked off the sidewalk in the area with barricades, then accessed the roof and temporarily secured the panel for the evening. The next day, they (along with Lamar Sims) were able to move a high reach into the area and make permanent repairs to the building.
Facilities Maintenance and Construction Superintendent Wayne Wainwright said, “I’m very pleased with the actions of this group of employees to recognize and repair the metal panels at Turlington. It’s very important that our employees report safety hazards in order to prevent injuries or loss of life at the University of Florida.”
“The crew and myself were happy to be recognized for making the repairs to the building,” said Paul Vlahos. “But I would say that every department here at Physical Plant performs jobs like this from time to time, just as a matter of course – when you see a safety hazard on campus, you try to take care of it right away. It’s just something that you do and don’t think much about it. I think that it’s a very good thing that this award has been established to try to bring some recognition to employees who go out of their way to fix these types of issues.”
The Employee Recognition Program was created as part of Physical Plant’s 2007 Goal 4, which is designed to find new ways to “recruit, reward and support employees”. Any employee is eligible to nominate or be nominated for the R.E.A.C.T. Award, or other Employee Recognition Program awards. To nominate an employee, go to the online nomination form at www.ppd.ufl.edu/pdf/nominationforrecognition.pdf. Nominations may be submitted through email or regular mail.