Havre city workers get safety award

The city of Havre has been honored for the safety record of its employees.

The Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority said Havre has won the Liability Loss Control Award and the Workers’ Compensation Loss Control Award for first-class cities.

First class cities are defined as those with a population of 10,000 or more. Havre has fallen below that, with a population estimated at 9,620, but it is still considered a first-class city.

Havre, being classified as a first-class city, competed with the likes of Helena, Billings, Bozeman and Great Falls.

“It shows how conscientious our employees are,” said Janet Trethewey, Ward 2 councilwoman and director of the safety board. “It’s a reflection of quality of employees in the city.”

According to Trethewey, the board giving the award only looks at city employees.

The numbers used to decide who receives the award is based just on sheer numbers, not incidents per capita.

“It’s great, we’ve done pretty well the last few years,” Mayor Tim Solomon said. “It’s continued from work that Janet has done on our safety committee.”

This is the second year in a row Havre has won the Workers’ Compensation Loss Control Award. Last year, Havre was beat out for the liability award by Butte-Silver Bow.

In 2011, Havre won the Liability Loss Control Award and Bozeman won the Worker’s Compensation Award.

According to Hulse, Helena-based MMIA is “a pool for cities and towns. … We’re similar to an insurance company.”

MMIA has four separate programs: the worker’s comp program, a property coverage program, a liability program and an employee benefits and health program.