City Workers Put Skills To The Test In Annual Safety Rodeo

After a four-year hiatus, the City of Tulsa's Safety Rodeo is back, and this time, it's bigger and better.

To some, it may have looked like another day on the job, but the folks at the 2024 Safety Rodeo put their heavy equipment skills to the test.

"In the past, it was more of a department, and then now it's citywide, and we've got, as you'll see here, all of our operating departments throughout the city of Tulsa," said Director of Public Works Terry Ball. 

Ball said while today is about safety, "we want everybody to go home the way they came to work," he said it's also about a little friendly competition, "competition among fellow workers is always fun having bragging rights for a year is even better so that's a lot of what happens out of the day too." 

They had track hoe softball shovel, a UTV obstacle course and backhoe golf.

"They'll have where they use a backhoe with a spoon, they attach on it. In the past we've had some golf balls in sand, and they'll sit there and lift a golf ball out and drop it in a bucket. It doesn't sound very hard until you watch somebody do it," Ball said. 

City water and sewer employee Jamal Marshall wanted to test his skills on some of the equipment, especially after being called out by a friend. "So, once I heard that time, I'm pretty sure I got him beat, and then I was looking at the time on the board, so I know I'm up there, and I'm excited for it," he said. Marshall's time was 1:42. 

It was a day off from excavating creeks and fixing water lines, but getting in practice, nonetheless. "Just to have fun. I got one, now I have got to go try the rest. I got to be brave enough to try the rest of them now," Marshall said.