On an unusually snowy, cold and blustery day in early September, a Field Service crew headed to the Sand Creek Gravel Pit to participate in the second annual Driving Rodeo.
The Driving Rodeo is an opportunity for Colorado Springs Utilities crews to showcase some of their skills through a series of obstacles they face in the field daily. Because our field service employees spend so much time in their Utilities vehicles every day, it is important for them to periodically sharpen their skills.
"This is a great team-building activity," said Field Services Manager Jennifer Piluso. "The employees are having fun out there, yet still taking it seriously."
A couple of the events employees participated in included a serpentine obstacle course where they had to drive their truck forward and then backward through a series of cones trying not to hit a cone or knock one of. Another event was a tire chain installation because simply putting the vehicle into 4-wheel drive is not enough sometimes. Employees are required to also know how to properly install tire chains on their work vehicles.
"While we can sit in a classroom and discuss safety protocols and how employees would get out of certain situations, nothing is a substitute for the physical act of going through the motions live and getting that hands-on experience," said Operations Superintendent Kevin Fisk.
If employees do not score well on an event, their supervisor can spend time working with them in areas where they need to improve. Nothing that happens at the Driving Rodeo is punitive. Over a course of five days, six different teams totaling approximately 60 employees participated in the event.