North Dakota

By Tom Regan

BISMARCK, N.D. – Glance to the right as you reach the Bismarck side of the Grant Marsh Bridge from the west on Interstate 94, and perched on the top of the bluff you’ll see the North Dakota Safety Council’s impressive new home.

The modern structure, one of the most sophisticated training centers in the region, represents Phase One of a $6 million building project that dramatically advances the 50-year-old nonprofit’s mission of preventing injuries and deaths in our workplaces, on our streets and highways and in our homes.

The 24,000-square-foot safety campus, a vision five years in the making, is located near the MDU Resources Community Bowl and the Bismarck Aquatic Center. It was designed and built to grow and enhance what the organization does best: safety training, especially of the hands-on variety.

“It is so not an office building,” explained executive director Chuck Clairmont after making the move to the new facility. “The office portion was the last consideration. The main focus was on the classrooms and enhancing and extending the classroom experience.”

The features of the new safety campus, such as a 26-foot indoor training tower where realistic fall-protection and confined-spaces training can take place, enable the NDSC to offer top-notch, experiential learning on a year-round basis.

Phase Two of the safety campus vision will include an indoor, dirtfloor arena to accommodate training in trenching, excavating and equipment operation. Multiple group training rooms equipped with