Neighbor, Avista crew due lifesaving honors

An Avista Utilities line crew that assisted a man with a severe head injury and a Spokane Valley man who rescued two children from a burning home will receive awards for their actions at the Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Conference Wednesday and Thursday at the Spokane Convention Center.

As many as 2,000 are expected for the event, which manager Susan Troy said will include 70 presentations by more than 100 speakers. Topics include “Human Resource Issues: Recruitment, Discipline and Harassment”; “MRSA and Other Bad Bugs”; and “Workplace Bullying: Causes and Cures.”

A program for students is scheduled Wednesday morning.

The 11th annual Forklift Rodeo is planned, as well as a Poletop Rescue Competition that will be held in the Lilac Bowl at Riverfront Park.

The incidents for which the Avista crew and Jon Higginson will receive their awards occurred just two days apart in June.

On the 24th, Higginson twice entered a home to save a 2-year-old and 3-year-old. The BNSF Railway conductor had just completed a second tour of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Two days later, Matt Swan, Todd Crawford, Ben Little and Mitch Colvin were working 11 miles outside of Avery, Idaho, when a man working nearby told them his co-worker had sustained a serious head injury. Because the area was inaccessible to rescue vehicles, the Avista crew summoned an air ambulance and applied first aid until transportation arrived. The man is recovering.

Two Department of Fish and Wildlife workers, Dave Meisner and Jeff Wade, will be recognized as well for their assistance to a co-worker who fell 40 feet down a bluff southwest of Asotin, Wash.

Troy said workplace safety remains a constant concern. “On the average week in Washington, two people do not go home to their families,” she said.