Walking through the obstacle course of construction on campus can be done gracefully knowing that Tammy Hill, also known as “Safety Tammy,” has worked closely with the contractors to ensure the safety regulations are met and adhered to.
Tammy Hill is Plymouth State University’s Environmental Health & Safety Coordinator. When asked about her job, Tammy said, “The definition would vary by workplace. Here at PSU it has to do with fire and life safety, workplace safety, environmental issues, compliance and overall heath issues.”
For over a year now, Tammy has commuted the 42 miles to PSU through back roads from her small farm in Warner, NH where she lives with her husband, 17-year-old son and 14 -year-old daughter.
Tammy Hill’s office is positioned in front of the stairs on the second floor in the Physical Plant. The teal, laminated desk serves as a display case for pictures of her children and a portion of her bulletin board acts as an art gallery of homemade crafts.
The desk is cluttered with essentials: legal pads, pottery filled with pens and pencils, mail, a phone, and a computer with a screensaver of personal photos of her family and two pet dogs along with photos of the campus.
The vivacious personality of Tammy is noted in the small pieces of her office. Magnets on the wall of “Wicked” and “The Producers” illustrate Tammy’s love for Broadway and the fascination with creative storylines and imaginative sets. A dog calendar is pinned up over the town of Plymouth map used to help her become familiarized with the area. The faux flower arrangement sits on the desk and the Christmas cactus rests on the filing cabinet next to the door reminding visitors of the demanding schedule Tammy follows. Tammy explains that the average day is “never boring, especially with all of the projects going on here at this time.”
Tammy strolls around campus frequently to confirm that no hazards exist and if one is found, it is dealt with immediately. “We would never knowingly put a student at risk,” Tammy emphasized.
As the Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator, Tammy provides organizations the correct standards and codes involved in event set-up. Many of the rules and regulations PSU follows for events are found in the Life and Safety Code text book which Tammy leaves accessible on a bookshelf behind her desk. Since the Rhode Island night club fire in 2003 where 100 people died, the Life and Safety Code guidelines have drastically changed, so Tammy will reference back to make sure PSU is up to code.
“I want students to know that I am very willing to work with them, answer questions, speak to student groups, and help in any way I can to make sure that their time at PSU is positive and safe,” Tammy expressed, “I try to keep e-mails to students to a minimum, but if there is something of importance that would directly affect health, safety or well-being, I will try to communicate that in some way.”
Reading the e-mails Tammy sends is important for students because the information she provides will make navigation through the construction on campus easy, and also updates PSU students with other valuable tips. “I hate junk mail, but the e-mails from Tammy are anything but that,” PSU Junior Angela Michalka described, “they help me know what’s happening on and around campus.”
Tammy Hill is an essential part of making time at PSU safe and memorable. It is her duty to oversee that all of the campus facilities and operations are inspected and reach the local, state and federal standards. Tammy Hill works behind the scenes at Plymouth State University to make sure things continually run smooth and safe.
“I can truly say I enjoy my job here,” Tammy reflected, “I work with some great people at PSU and I hope to be here for a long time.”