National Employee Fitness Day theme: 'Safety at Home'
A group of Fermilab employees walks around the main ring during last year's Employee Health and Fitness day celebration.
Safety, sun and exercise are forecast for mid-day Wednesday, when hundreds of Fermilab employees are expected to join the nation in celebrating National Employee Health & Fitness Day.
From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on May 16, employees can walk, bike, rollerblade or run around the Main Ring. This year's theme is "Safety at Home."
"You're trained in safety at work, but safety shouldn't stop at the gate," said Recreation Office manager and event organizer Jean Guyer. "What you do at home can impact your work and we want to make sure our employees know how to be safe in both environments."
A 1992 statistic from the National Safety Council lists 28,000 more deaths from home injuries than from work related injuries. Guyer, who chooses each year's theme, cited Fermilab's pride in work programs and training, and said she wanted to help lab employees extend their awareness to working safely at home.
Before and after their trip around the ring, employees can stop at a table at A1 to sign in, and to receive game tickets, refreshments, coupons and prizes. The Recreation Office will also have three stations set up around the ring focusing on home fire and yard safety and emergency preparedness. Each station will include displays, information, safety-related incentive prizes and a game stamp.
Nearly 280 people attended last year's event, and Guyer is hoping for an even larger turnout this year. One of the biggest draws to the event is the divisions and sections friendly competition, where the largest percentage of participation from a division or section wins a traveling trophy. The trophy is currently held by the Business Services Section, last year's winner.
In case of inclement weather, a rain date is set for Thursday, May 17.
-- Rhianna Wisniewski |