Pennsylvania honors efficiency, safety innovations
PennDOT Presents 23 Employees with IdeaLink Awards to Honor Efficiency, Safety Innovations
Twenty-three PennDOT employees were presented with the agency’s IdeaLink Award today during a ceremony in Harrisburg, honoring them for their ideas to improve safety or efficiency in the department.
The employee suggestions were submitted through IdeaLink, an online PennDOT system that empowers all department employees to share innovative ideas to improve workplace safety and enhance operations.
“I am honored to present the IdeaLink Award to our employees who have taken a proactive approach in making the department a better business partner and employer,” PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said. “These employees are dedicated to creating a more efficient, safer and more cost effective agency; this makes us a better employer and a better agency for our customers.”
The IdeaLink Awards Program focuses on new ideas that improve the department in the areas of efficiency, safety, customer service, cost savings and revenue generation.
One example of an award-winning idea was submitted by Rodney Young in the department’s Oil City-based region, who suggested warehousing engine oil filters at PennDOT’s Fleet Management Division rather than purchasing them from separate contracts. Implementing this idea will save the department an estimated $17,800 annually.
Another idea, submitted by Shawn McFarland in the department’s Clearfield-based region, suggested skips in edge-line rumble strips on roadways to allow bicyclists to cross over these portions of roadway more safely. After consultation with bicycle advocates and the Federal Highway Administration, the department’s publications were updated to include these separated strips for roadways with substantial bicycle traffic.
Eight ideas submitted anonymously were also recognized during the ceremony.
IdeaLink is part of PennDOT’s Next Generation, a combination of five distinct initiatives to review and enhance PennDOT’s operations to create improved efficiencies and make the agency a better business partner and a better employer.
