March 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Clearing the way

Saving us from slips and falls

The U.S. Postal Service has nothing on these guys. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night stops KSL Services grounds crews from making sure Laboratory roads, sidewalks and parking lots are cleared of snow. And they've been especially busy this winter.

Rodger Martinez uses a fourwheel drive, all-terrain vehicle to clear a sidewalk leading into the National Security Sciences Building. Photo by Dixon Wolf

Rodger Martinez is one of about 100 KSL Services employees who work in shifts plowing Laboratory roads and removing snow from sidewalks, walkways, and parking lots.

KSL conducts snow-removal operations on 161.2 miles of roads and streets around the Lab and nearly 25 miles of sidewalks, including handicap accessible ramps. In addition, KSL crews clear 10,528 parking slots, including the open-air slots at the two parking garages at Technical Area 3. "Any way you want to serve it up, for motorists, for pedestrians, it's all about safety," said John Keene of KSL Services. "Everyone who is out there shoveling snow is doing so to prevent someone from slipping and falling.

"The guys on the plows are looking to prevent traffic accidents. They really take ownership of the snow-removal operations. They take personal responsibility."