Central Division member receives major safety award

Tyler Horton, a leadperson at Minnesota Portable #5, has won the 2024 Minnesota Mine Safety Excellence in Safety Award.

Tyler Horton, a leadperson at Minnesota Portable #5, has won the 2024 Minnesota Mine Safety Excellence in Safety Award.

During a February ceremony, Horton was presented with the award, which annually honors someone who goes above and beyond to make working in mines safer in the state.

“I was honored to receive this award, which truthfully represents everyone at Portable #5,” Horton said. “It shows that the efforts we are making here are worth being recognized and that we are doing something right.”

Horton credits the team’s dedication to the site’s mop-up program as the main component of receiving this honor.

Once a month, the crew picks a different project on the site that can improve safety in or around the pit. Horton added that the crew’s dedication to the program has been shown through friendly competition during mop-ups, which increases the effectiveness of the individual projects and “puts the site’s safety at another level.”

“The voting committee for the award really liked our mop-up program and our specific tasks in 2023. My crew is pretty competitive about the jobs, trying to do their best, which made us really dig into things we needed to improve on our spread or in the pit,” he said. “Recognizing this makes us feel like the industry cares about our efforts; it is a great feeling.” 

Jesse Nordmann, a Minnesota District plant manager, agrees with the committee selection. He said Horton has a “high-level work ethic” and “strong values of safety.”

“The thing that really separates Tyler from others is his belief that safety excellence and operational excellence go hand in hand. He has a very good grasp of the fact that keeping his crushing spread clean and maintained makes it a safe and enjoyable place to work,” Nordmann said. “Tyler takes pride in and runs a very safe and efficient operation, and still, he continuously looks for ways to improve in these areas.”