By CRISTINA JANNEY 

Hays Post

Flame Engineering in LaCrosse celebrated 18 years with no loss-time accidents during a luncheon on Friday.

Flame, which is locally owned, has been in LaCrosse for almost 60 years and sells its products all over the world. Flame manufactures LP gas equipment. This includes torches for home, agriculture and tar roofing among other products.

Flame Engineering is currently recognized by the Kansas Department of Industrial Safety & Health along with OSHA as a SHARP (Safety & Health Achievement Recognition Program) company. This recognition was accomplished in October 2000 and maintained to date. Companies who are SHARP designated must renew their SHARP every two years.

SHARP is a national program. Kansas has the second largest number of SHARPs only behind Texas. Flame is one of 157 companies in the state to hold the prestigious SHARP designation. It has held that designation longer than any other company in the state.

“Achieving SHARP means that you are the best of the best for safety and health for your employees,” said Allen Vinyard, Kansas Department of Labor consultation program manager. “It means you are following all the rules and regulations, that you have all your written programs in place. It is very prestigious to achieve SHARP recognition. It is also very difficult to achieve SHARP recognition.”

Representatives of the Kansas Department of Industrial Safety and Health, the company’s insurer, Insurance Planning, and Sen. Jerry Moran’s office were all on hand to help the company celebrate its accomplishment.

“They have built a very good safety and health culture here,” Vinyard said, “and that starts at the top. It has to start at the top and work its way down to the employees.”

Both the representatives of the state and Insurance Planning said they routinely use Flame’s safety procedures as a model when working with other companies.

“We will point to Flame as a shinning star that, ‘Yes, look what they’ve done. Look how they maintain it every single year,'” Vinyard said. “We definitely use them as an example. If you want to achieve this, look at what this company has done.”

Stan Jackson, executive vice president at Insurance Planning, said one of the company’s annual trainings is a fork lift rodeo. Although the company was not able to shut down the plant for the annual rodeo this year because they were so busy, usually the rodeo is a fun day of training and competitions, which Jackson officiates, compete with a flag an officials jersey.

Although the company has had 18 years with no claims, it has only two claims in the last 30 years.

Flame Engineering has a Safety Committee. Members of that committee rotate every year so everyone has an opportunity to serve on the committee. It meets monthly and sets yearly goals. Mike Pivonka, owner and founder of the company, said any person in the factory has the authority to shut down a piece of equipment if they believe it is not being operated safely.

Pivonka said safety is not only good for the well-being of the employees, but it sustains productivity and decreases the company’s insurance costs.

He said he has had good buy in from the company’s 30 employees on the company’s safety initiatives.

“We probably have 95 percent buy in from our employees. They all realize they are the ones who are going to get hurt,” Pivonka said. “I’m not in the shop that much. I don’t have the exposure they do. I know everyone of our employees, most of their kids, know their wives and family, and I don’t want to have to call and say, ‘Hey, you have to go to the hospital because so and so got hurt. They all realize that it is their finger and toes and eyes.”

Although he does not spend much time on the plant floor these day, Pivonka said his employees will call him out if they see him without his safety glasses.

In addition to a luncheon, a half day off and T-shirts, the employees can also earn cash safety bonuses.

Pivonka said the company could operate anywhere in the country, but his family likes central Kansas and has found quality employees here.

“I am extremely proud of the employees that we have,” he said. “They just couldn’t be a better group of people.”

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

VICTORIA — Construction is set to begin soon on a $4.5 million water system revitalization project in Victoria that will replace the town’s water tower, revitalize two of their wells and replace aging water lines throughout the town.

The project will also connect the town’s supply to the Trego 2 Rural Water District.

A USDA grant, along with a low-interest loan will pay for the majority of the project, with the city set to pay around $100,000, according to the USDA.

The first stage in the project that is being completed by EBH Engineering is the replacement of the water tower.

“The water tower is 20 years past its estimated life span,” said Brad Schmidtberger, city superintendent. “We are going from a 50,000 gallon to a 150,000 gallon above ground. That fulfills the needs of growth for the town.

“The grant was approved, and the engineering firm is doing all of the surveying,” Schmidtberger added.

Bidding for construction should start soon and he said tower construction could start in September.

Waterline replacement is likely to come next as stage two of the system overhaul and will replace approximately 14,000 feet of waterlines and adding waterline loops to many existing lines.

“We have done water projects over the years and replaced a lot of the water lines around town naturally, and this would replace some of the ones that were not replaced in the most recent water project in the 1980s,” Schmidtberger said.

Adding loops to waterlines will help with water flow and water quality.

“We have some waterlines that are very dated, and we have a couple that are not looped in some lower-use areas. We are going to loop those in. That will produce much higher quality water in those lower-use areas,” Schmidtberger said.

Repairing two of the city’s wells and connecting to the rural water district will complete the project and will help ensure the water supply is sufficient for the expected growth in Victoria.

“We would have basically new wells,” Schmidtberger said. “They are both very dated and in need.”

“By offsetting these and re-drilling with new screens, new casings and so forth, it’s going to give us a better and a more efficient quality of water and a more efficient supply of water,” he said. “With the repairs, we will be able to capitalize more on what’s there.”

Adding water from the rural water district will add another water supply to the system and ensure the supply remains sufficient for future growth.

“That will allow us to feel comfortable with the amount of water we have, long term,” Schmidtberger said.

The decision to connect to the Trego 2 Rural Water District was based on location as the district runs lines through Ellis County and the properties of the water.

The rural district’s water is “the best match for our water,” Schmidtberger said. “It will blend very well with our water and our existing well field.”

Having water that is similar in makeup to the city well makes it the most cost-effective method of adding to the water supply, he said, as they can blend the water with the well water as it will not need additional treatment.

Once the connection is made, the water from the district will be added to the central reservoir for processing.

More information about the project was published in a city newsletter and can be found here.