By Sue Roe

There’s a team at the Maple Grove truck station quietly making the workplace safer for maintenance employees and the traveling public.

“We work on spotting things that could be safer and easier to do,” said John Bieniek, Metro District maintenance operations engineer. “This group is empowered to come up with solutions. We get a lot of energy from each other.”

The group, known as the Metro Safety Innovation Team, meets monthly to discuss their ideas. Besides Bieniek, the team includes a heavy equipment mechanic, a welder, two safety employees, one mechanic supervisor, a maintenance worker and two maintenance supervisors. Nate Smith, mechanic; Duane Klein, welder; and Doug Thies, Metro District safety administrator, created the group.

“The meetings are a big brainstorming session and everyone is equal and that’s what makes it work,” said Julie Libonate, Metro District safety services supervisor.

The first innovation came after employees were at risk of being injured getting in and out of redesigned snowplows. Air emissions standards require MnDOT to install exhaust equipment under the truck. That requires the fuel tank to be raised, which increases the truck’s height and makes the step to get into the truck higher, increasing the risk of a trip or fall. The team created a lower step that bolts on the truck. The original step remained, but now employees use two steps to get into the truck.

The step innovation caught on and expanded to statewide use in 2017. Central Shop employees refined the step design and now install it on all new trucks. It can also be purchased by districts from a contractor that makes it.

“It accommodates someone who is shorter really well,” said Smith, who built the step with Klein. “Employees often get in and out of a truck 30 times a day.”

Kyle Lundberg, transportation generalist at Maple Grove, asked the team to figure out a way to make the snow blower, which blows snow from the roadway into the back of a truck, more visible on the roadway. Smith got LED rope lights, inserted them into a flexible nylon tube and inserted the tube into a two-foot translucent neon orange tube to make a lighted plow marker.

“When the plow truck is trying to line up with the blower, the driver can’t see the end of the truck very well,” said Smith. “Sometimes the two trucks collide and that affects the life of the truck.”

The lights will also be used on a snowplow wing tip to increase wing visibility at night for the traveling public, which can help avoid rear-end crashes, and for snowplow operators to see placement in relation to guardrails.

Smith said the lights will be tested on several wing plows and snow blowers this winter. Cost for the light is about $30 a pair. A vendor’s cost is between $130 and $140, but Smith said they don’t work as well because they’re made of fiberglass and don’t emit enough light.

When Smith learned that employees sustained injuries when clearing the auger that moves salt from the truck to the spinners, he crafted an automatic shut off system by adapting the wiring. The system stops all spreader operations when the truck is placed in park.

“By installing this system, we reduced the chances of an operator coming into contact with the rotating auger shaft,” said Smith.

That solution was created using a wire that costs one dollar and a diode that costs three cents.
Metro District will modify the augers on all its trucks over time and is working on statewide implementation.

This winter the team will test a way to keep snow off the wiper blade. Snow often turns into ice below the wiper creating an “ice dam.” Snowplow operators have to get out of the truck to remove it. Installing a piece of metal on the hood that causes air to deflect from the wipers will prevent snowplow operators from having to get out of the truck, saving time and avoiding the risk of a fall.

“The team works on ideas that make sense,” said Thies. “The smallest of ideas we make a reality. Nate does a good job of coming up with what we need and then Duane welds it. We can dream up some pretty significant things, but if it isn’t economical or feasible we aren’t going to do it.”

Libonate said the innovations bring safety to the forefront.

“There were four injuries last year where employees got their hand in the auger. This invention helps us avoid catastrophic injuries. There are many incidents involving the plow wing. The lights will help reduce these numbers. We’re reducing injuries and that’s the ultimate goal,” she said.

The group just launched a website that shows the agency’s innovations and encourages districts to share their ideas.

“The exciting thing about the safety innovation team is that it’s still just the beginning,” said Thies. “Imagine what it’s going to be like when employees can go to the website and say ‘Here’s my idea.’”

Todd Stevens has accepted the acting State Maintenance engineer position. He will be on the mobility for the next 6-12 months while Steve Lund works on the 081 Funding Distribution.

Stevens has worked for MnDOT for more than 10 years. Most recently he served as the assistant district engineer for operations in District 6 Rochester. The previous five years were spent in the Bridge Office. For 21 years prior to joining MnDOT, Stevens worked as a bridge engineer in both the public and private sectors.

“Todd will provide strategic direction for the areas of Operations, Building Services and Fleet Management within the agency,” said Jody Martinson, assistant commissioner, Operations Division. “We are excited to have Todd in this important role. He has a solid maintenance background and will provide excellent leadership to the office throughout the next year.”

He has a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from South Dakota State University and a master of science degree in infrastructure systems engineering from the University of Minnesota. Stevens and his wife Martha have been married for 31 years and have three children: Sam, Zach and Elizabeth. He has been an avid runner for more than 40 years and enjoys home improvement projects.

By Rich Kemp

MnDOT has a new website for transportation performance measures, replacing the printed report that began with the 2008 Annual Transportation Performance Report.

"The performance dashboard is an effort to describe transportation data in a visually engaging way with the most current information available," said Mitch Webster, Office of Transportation System Management. "The new website gives the public and stakeholders the opportunity to explore transportation performance in ways that matter to them and allows them to get the level of information they want."

Site content can be viewed either by topic or by objective. The objectives are connected to the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan.

The SMTP's objectives support the Minnesota GO Vision and address the challenges facing Minnesota's transportation system and everyone who depends on it. The objectives include open decision-making, transportation safety, critical connections, system stewardship and healthy communities.

In addition to supporting the Minnesota GO Vision, performance management at MnDOT centers around clear policies, performance trend data and performance forecasts to guide investments and operational decisions. Ongoing measurement and review processes assist MnDOT in evaluating the efficiency of service delivery and assessing the effectiveness of program activities. This objective-based approach, accompanied by the new performance website, increases transparency and encourages innovation by keeping the focus on outcomes.

Topic areas include:

• Bridges
• Roads
• Environment
• Safety
• Aviation
• Transit
• Bicycle/pedestrian
• Rail

To get more information, check out the website at http://performance.minnesotago.org.

By Bruce Vranish, MNIT@DOT

Last summer, the Active Directory & Messaging Team of MNIT@DOT upgraded to the newest version of the Forefront Identity Manager, called Microsoft Identity Manager. Most of the data in FIM was migrated into MIM, with one exception. For technical reasons, previous security questions and answers from the old Self-Service Password Reset service were not able to move over.

In early December, MNIT@DOT will launch the replacement Self-Service Password Reset system. All MnDOT and MNIT@DOT users will be expected to visit the site, and re-register. It is a very simple process. Using a network browser, go to MnDOT’s network site at www.dot.state.mn or iHub, and look up Password under A-Z, or go to the IT Storefront under Access. The sites contain instructions and a three-minute training video for changing your password.

Visit the site, and click on the option to Register your Password, and you will be asked to select and answer five security questions out of 10 possible choices. Your responses will be recorded. 

By Shawn Meade, Leadership Development Program

Just like last year, during the month of December, MnDOT offices and districts will be encouraged to eliminate excess email as part of an agency-wide clean-up effort. The clean-up supports the strategy of promoting data governance across the agency by disposing of information that is no longer needed and storing information in the correct place.

“As an agency we strive for good information governance by not letting content pile up in our email inboxes,” said Jennifer W. Witt, records and information manager in the Office of Chief Counsel. “It’s basically maintenance, caring for our information assets as we care for our infrastructure assets.”

The office or district that reduces its email storage by the highest percentage will win the MnDOT Golden Hard Drive. The first data storage clean-up week was held in spring 2016.

Previous Golden Hard Drive winners were:

• Office of Communications - Spring 2016
• Office of Civil Rights - Fall 2016
• Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicles - Spring 2017
• Office of Environmental Stewardship - Fall 2017
• Office of Civil Rights - Spring 2018

New Library Materials posted on the Web

New Library Materials are available at http://www.mndot.gov/library/newlibmat.html. This issue features some new editions of important titles for DOTs.

New Library Materials is a compilation of new titles and other resources added to the library collection during the previous month(s). Previous editions of New Library Materials are archived and available at http://www.mndot.gov/library/recacq-archive.html.

If you would like to be added to the distribution list or have any questions, email MnDOT Library at library.dot@state.mn.us or send requests via the Ask a Librarian Web page (www.mndot.gov/library/asklibrarian.html).