Montana Technological University places third at Safety Olympics

Photo courtesy of Southeastern Oklahoma State University

Montana Technological University’s Department of Safety, Health and Industrial Hygiene sent six students to defend its spot as reigning champions of the Safety Olympics held on Feb. 27-28 at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma. They took home third place.

This year’s team consisted of first-time senior competitors. The annual event requires participants to exhibit their skills in occupational health, safety, and industrial hygiene through a series of challenges. Participating universities included Collin College, Pittsburg State University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the University of Central Missouri and Oklahoma State University.

Montana Tech team members include: Samantha Benson, Samantha Moore, Olivia Musselman, Rylan Ruscheinsky, Rylan Signalness, and Gabriel Witham. The team was coached by Lorri Birkenbuel, Dan Autenrieth, and Dave Gilkey.

While the name “Safety Olympics” sounds like a ton of fun, in reality, it takes a lot of preparation, study, and effort to succeed.

“It’s definitely work,” Associate Professor and team Coach Dan Autenrieth said. “These events simulate real-world scenarios students will encounter in occupational safety and health. While they can be enjoyable, they’re highly technical and science-based, more so than typical games.”

Every piece of the competition is rooted in practicality.

“We use the concepts we’ve learned as students over the past three or four years,” Samantha Moore, of Big Timber, said.

Events include Safety Jeopardy, which consists of a set of questions, based on the Associate Safety Professional exam, that must be answered in 60 minutes. The Hazard Recognition event requires teams to inspect a virtual workspace using virtual reality technology. Teams must identify hazards, find the OSHA standards associated with the hazards and make recommendations for corrective actions in a set amount of time. The Safety Culture event requires students to present a boardroom-style presentation to convince management to implement their plan to change safety culture. The Incident Investigation event is a hands-on activity that requires the team to gather witness statements, evidence, and present findings to avoid repeat accidents in the future.

The Safety Innovation event is the one that students have been preparing for the longest. The competition requires students to complete a project addressing an innovative solution. This project also met one of the 21 research priorities set by the National Occupational Research Agenda.

“When sampling for respirable dust, you use a cyclone to sort the particulate matter,” Olivia Musselman, of North Platte, Nebraska said. “We want to compare results of cyclones made of three quite different materials. We're using a 3-D printed cyclone, a nylon cyclone, and an aluminum cyclone, and directly comparing the results. The 3-D printed cyclone is brand new, and has never been tested in this way. We're going to see if it's as good as these other existing cyclones.”

“I like it because it’s a different form of a senior project, just condensed down,” Rylan Ruscheinsky, of Butte, said.

Associate Professor and Coach Lorri Birkenbuel noted the judges of the 2024 Safety Olympics loved the research-focused approach Montana Tech brought to the table last time, so this year, the team opted for a similar approach. The team’s strongest event, however, was incident investigation.