A professional operator positions his forklift at the rodeo in Richland, Washington

Dot Foods Inc emphasised safety and fun at the company's national rodeo finals for pallet jack, forklift and reach truck operators.

Using equipment from Raymond, Yale and Crown, Dot operates 104 pallet jacks, 104 forklifts, 95 narrow-aisle reach units, 32 order pickers and 74 second-level pick machines.

Dot's 10 redistribution centres in nine states move more than 70,000 separate products from about 500 food industry manufacturers through distribution channels nationwide. Warehouse forklift operators at each centre competed for one of the 30 positions in the 25 June finals in Mount Sterling.

Winning operators were Clint Sutton from the Mount Sterling frozen warehouse in the pallet jack event; Jon Baker from the Cambridge City, Indiana warehouse in the forklift category; and Jeff Scrogum from the Mount Sterling dry warehouse in the narrow-aisle reach competition.

"The event is designed for our employees, both for fun and to encourage safe and efficient operation of the equipment," says John Long, vice president of warehousing. "While speed is key, safe operation is critical to successful performance" in the competition.

Mike Ford, 2009 forklift rodeo co-ordinator and Indiana warehouse manager, notes: "It was exciting to see employees from distant locations coming together to celebrate each others' success." Dot arranged corporate headquarter tours, a St Louis dinner and a slide show with photographs and fun facts about each contestant.

Meanwhile, in the State of Washington, 17 forklift operators from five companies competed in a regional rodeo at the Volpentest HAMMER (hazardous materials management and emergency response) training and education center in Richland. Competitors were tested in a written exam, pre-use inspection of a forklift and an obstacle course.

"The event was a huge success," says Mark Ribich, material handling manager for the Seattle district site services unit of Boeing Co's shared services group.

Ives Training & Compliance Group Inc of Blaine, Washington, the Papé Material Handling branch in Pasco, Washington; Mid Columbia Forklift Inc of Yakima, Washington; Columbia Colstor Inc of Moses Lake, Washington; and the US Department of Energy-owned Volpentest HAMMER centre sponsored the Richland event on 27 June supplying equipment, door prizes, food and refreshments.

Other regionals in Washington are scheduled for 25 July in Spokane and 22 August in Seattle. The top five operators from each region compete for a top prize of USD500 in the 12th annual finals occurring on 7 October in Tacoma as part of the governor's 58th industrial safety and health conference. The governor's industrial safety and health advisory board and the state's department of labour and industries co-sponsor the conference.