A woman who is employed at the Pineland Forest Nursery in Hadashville has won the annual 'Worker SAFEty Award' from Safe Work Manitoba. Arleen Pluchinski is co-chair of the Safety Committee at the nursery. She explains why she is so passionate about safety.

"Everybody has the right to go home safe at the end of the day, to your family, to your loved ones. In the past, safety has never been a big thing but, as people start recognizing the need, more and more things are changing as to how people do safety, how they do their jobs. There is a better way to do things and a safer way to do things."

Pluchinski says they now do intensive safety training at the nursery and it has made a big difference.

"We went form a place that had, I hate to say it but, a lot of injury, not serious injury but every injury, to me, is serious enough if you are off work. So we have gone from a fairly high statistic to almost a nil statistic now."

Pluchinski says in addition to safety training, they have changed the way people work in parts of the operation.

"In our packing shed, where we pack our seedlings, we had a lot of repetitive strains happening. Years ago, when you came to work here, you started on one job at 8:00 in the morning and you stayed on that job right until 4:30 in the afternoon. So we implemented job rotations meaning you're in a job now for about an hour to an hour-and-fifteen minutes and then you go to the next job that doesn't have as much strain on your hands, it's not quite so repetitive. That was a huge aspect in us having decreased MSI (musculoskeletal injuries)."

Pluchinski says not everybody is anxious to embrace change but adds that, over time, the staff at Pineland Forest Nursery have come to appreciate a safer workplace

She received the award last week at a gala dinner in Winnipeg.