Tag: training

Montana LTAP Hits the Ground Running

Posted on July 10th, 2023

Montana LTAP has been hitting the roads hard this summer. Director Matt Ulberg and Field Trainer Shawna Page have conducted a variety of trainings in Lewistown, Miles City, Bozeman, Sidney, Billings, Boulder, Kalispell, and Cutbank to name a few. They’ve also hosted classes at four Montana colleges, on the Rocky Boy, North Cheyenne, Crow, and Blackfoot Reservations, and trained Yellowstone National Park road crews.

The annual Snow Rodeo is coming up fast in September. The two events, in Sidney and Missoula, MT, will accommodate up to 80 total competitors.  After a one-day safety training, attendees will hone their skills in multiple areas: backhoe, loader, grader, and snowplow use; diagnostics; and the dreaded written exam.

Flagger training has been particularly popular this year. Not only counties, but fire departments, have requested the class. Fire departments want their employees to be comfortable managing traffic around vehicle crashes. According to Shawna, “once one department gets training, then all the neighboring departments realize they need it too.”  Matt agreed and added that flagging is a foundational skillset for first responders that needs to be emphasized.  The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) is a leader in training for hazards in the incident management space. Their Transportation Incident Management (TIM) trainings are available online at https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tim/training.

Matt and Shawna will also teach Flagger training at the annual Montana Tow Truck Association conference in September and help plan and implement the Montana Association of County Road Supervisors (MACRS) Annual conference, where they will present the annual Montana LTAP Road scholar awards. “We had a record number of both Road Master (63) and Road Scholars (52) this year,” noted Shawna. “Some of them were only one class away from completing the program, so we worked hard to get them over the finish line. We even taught a couple of one-on-one classes so that they could finish.”

Montana LTAP classes aren’t limited to Flagger training. Shawna and Matt have the ability to teach more than 80 different courses, including 24-hour New Miner: Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) Part 46, OSHA 30, Fall Protection, Trenching and Excavation Safety, and Confined Spaces and many more. They will also provide instruction on specific sections of those classes upon request. Page has been providing LTAP trainings for over seven years and travels all year across the state of Montana, driving an average of 50,000 miles per year to reach remote counties that need assistance. To date, LTAP has already reached a wide audience in 2023 – teaching 42 classes to 704 students. “I love my job and I try really hard to offer high-quality and entertaining classes,” said Page. “I hate death by PowerPoint, and I don’t want that for my students. I’ve gotten letters from folks months later, saying ‘I took your class, got a job, and I’m making my own money for the first time,’ which is pretty cool.”

MT LTAP is also collecting Build a Better Mousetrap ideas for the annual submission to FHWA. Matt accepts ideas year-round and will include them in the next annual submission.  Ideally, a City or County roadway agency submits creative shop-built innovations or field procedures and include pictures and descriptions if possible. Also, LTAP solicits photos from the field to include in the presentations they offer.  LTAP’s community of Local Agencies (our Locals) have consistently provided great roadway photos for inclusion in LTAP materials.

LTAP can help with any technical assistance needs including on-site project reviews, assistance with navigating federal funding applications, specific trainings, process evaluations, or working with individuals that need one-on-one time to get up to speed on their skills. “Whatever your needs are, LTAP is going to help you meet them,” says Shawna.

PROJECT NEWS: WTI Researchers Demystify the Salt Phase Diagram

Posted on November 1st, 2022

Road salt, most often sodium chloride (NaCl) melts ice and is a crucial tool for winter maintenance crews around the world. However, the constant application of road salt is resulting in long-term environmental and economic impacts. To slow the negative effects of sodium chloride deicers by optimizing salt use, researchers from WTI and Washington State University completed Understanding the Salt Phase Diagram, a project sponsored by Clear Roads, a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) pooled fund. Led by Laura Fay, WTI’s Cold Climate Operations and Systems Program Manager, the team completed a literature review and laboratory investigation of the NaCl phase diagram, a graphical representation of the physical states (liquids or solid salt/ice) of salt brine depending on concentration and temperature. They distilled the information into training materials to help winter maintenance practitioners better understand the salt phase diagram and to support efficient and effective roadway deicing.

To provide visual aids for the training materials, the researchers needed to demonstrate the behavior of salt solutions in a laboratory setting. They collected video and photographic evidence of ice formation in salt brine at a range of concentrations and temperatures, verifying the familiar process of lowering ice’s freezing point with the addition of salt. They also clarified the effects of high salt concentrations on ice formation.

By synthesizing their laboratory data, the researchers created an updated NaCl phase diagram, fact sheet, and accompanying video. WTI’s Visual Communications Manager, Neil Hetherington, ensured that the phase diagram was associated with easily recognizable design elements (e.g., green = good = ice prevention). Fay noted, “Neil [Hetherington] took subject matter that was science and engineering heavy and converted it into useful, digestible information that is easily transferable. He also took time to collect quality photographs which effectively conveyed the information.”

The research has been well received. Fay has presented the training materials and findings to multiple organizations. “These materials serve as powerful education tools,” noted Fay, “and they are being used across the country.”

The full report is available on the project webpage of the WTI website.  The video may be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrvOoJGH_w

2019 Positive Culture Framework Training Program – Registration Now Open

Posted on March 12th, 2019

Banner announcing Positive Culture Framework Training to be held September 24 to 26, 2019 in Nashville, TN and showing photo of downtown Nashville

This fall, the Center for Health and Safety Culture (CHSC) will host a training workshop on the fundamentals of Positive Culture Framework.  Registration is now open for the 2 ½ day event, which will be held September 24-26 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The training is designed for anyone working to improve health and safety, such as traffic safety professionals, substance misuse professionals, prevention specialists, violence prevention advocates, coalition members, government personnel, and law enforcement officers. Through this training, attendees will:

  • Learn how culture influences behavior;
  • Develop and refine skills in three critical areas: leadership, communication, and the integration of effective strategies; and
  • Gain specific next steps for transforming culture to improve health and safety.

The agenda and registration information for this training is available on the CHSC website.