DURANT, Okla. – First-time participants Montana Technological University won the 2024 Safety Olympics hosted by Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s department of Occupational Safety and Health.
The Safety Olympics consisted of six teams competing in six aspects of occupational safety and health: Accident Investigation, Hazard Identification, Training Presentation, Safety Culture Presentation, Safety Innovation Presentation, and Safety Jeopardy. Over two days, the teams were scored and ranked.
“Thank you to all the teams that came to participate in the 2024 Safety Olympics competition,” said Dr. Mellena Nichols, assistant professor of occupational safety and health and Southeastern team coach. “We’re glad to have all of the schools here, as well as our sponsors and judges from many of the local companies and construction facilities to support our teams.”
Teams in the competition were:
“We came down from Montana, so it’s our first time participating in the event and we had a blast,” said Montana Tech associate professor of safety, health, and industrial hygiene and team coach Lorri Birkenbuel. “We did not have a clue what the outcome was going to be, but at the end we ended up winning, which was amazing. All of the participants were great, all the competitions were great, and we had a great time.”
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Leslie Osborn was the keynote speaker at the awards luncheon.
| Accident Investigation | Hazard Investigation | Training Presentation | Safety Culture Presentation | Safety Innovation | Safety Jeopardy | TOTAL | ||
| 1 | Montana Tech | 100 | 56 | 100 | 65 | 99 | 100 | 520 |
| 2 | Central Missouri | 15 | 100 | 97 | 100 | 74 | 94 | 480 |
| 3 | Pittsburg State | 100 | 53 | 100 | 92 | 19 | 95 | 459 |
| 4 | Collin College | 82 | 46 | 74 | 39 | 95 | 71 | 407 |
| 5 | Southeastern Oklahoma State | 75 | 86 | 71 | 76 | 0 | 86 | 344 |
| 6 | College of the Mainland | 0 | 53 | 60 | 27 | 32 | 87 | 259 |
