Ron Cochran

Ron Cochran from Seattle, Washington facility of harbour services provider and project manager Foss Maritime Co won the top individual plaque and USD500 prize in the 13th annual Washington State forklift rodeo.

Participants in the statewide competition held on 29 September in Spokane went through a written examination, pre-flight equipment inspection and a demonstration of forklift operating skills.

Mike Weinman with a Seattle site of Boeing Co took the 2010 second individual place, receiving USD400 and a plaque, and Elton Gould with Columbia Crest Wine in Paterson, Washington captured the third individual recognition, receiving USD300 and a plaque.

Andrew Ibbotson, Randy Langwell and Corey Nelson won first place in the team category. They operate forklifts in Lynden, Washington at the VersaCold Cascade facility.

The 2010 second place team of Weinman, Ralph Albrecht and Joe Henry represents a Seattle plant of Boeing.

In the 2009 forklift rodeo, the Boeing team was the victor, and VersaCold was second.

The top five operators from each of the 2010 preliminary competitions in Richland, Spokane and Auburn participated as part of the governor's 59th industrial safety and health conference. The governor's industrial safety and health advisory board and the state's department of labor and industries co-sponsor the conference.

Meanwhile, organisers of the 29-30 October US Forklift Rodeo & Safety Expo in Springfield have circulated the names of event sponsors and additional team entrants.

The sponsors provide funding and in-kind-service contributions.

Gold Nugget-level sponsors for the 16th annual event include the Springfield/Clark County Safety Council, the industry portal Forkliftaction.com, and materials handling equipment dealership KMH Systems Inc.

Silver Spur-level sponsors include Cascade Corp, the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Forklift Training Systems Inc, KTH Parts Industries Inc and Sentry Protection Inc.

Tin Star-level sponsors include Dole Food Co Inc fresh vegetables, EnerSys Inc, MH Network, Sweet Manufacturing Co and Yale Inc.

An Open Range-level sponsor is the multi-dealership Jeff Wyler Automobile Family.

Richard E Higgins, longtime event facilitator, reports the addition of teams from shoe and handbag retailer DSW Inc of Columbus, Ohio; metal stamping and four-slide house Kreider Corp of Springfield; and a sixth Kraft Foods Inc team, in this case representing a distribution centre in Addison, Illinois. These entrants are in addition to those previously reported (Forkliftaction.com News #480). Higgins is a senior safety trainer and territory manager in the Springfield branch of Forklift Training Systems.