A new state-of-the-art Hands-On Safety Training Facility is being built in Bismarck.

The new facility is being built to prevent injuries and deaths amongst employees in North Dakota. The facility will be made available to businesses training their employees in courses the North Dakota Safety Council offers. There are currently more than 1,000 members in the Safety Council throughout the industries of construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, energy, utilities, transportation, health care, and many more.

The project has been in talks since 2012 when unintentional injuries and deaths were at an all-time high. At that time, 167 deaths occurred on the roads and 64 were just doing their jobs, along with thousands of injuries as well.

The new 5,000 square-foot facility will include distance learning, a computer lab, driving and heavy equipment simulators, and mobile training units. Eventually, a dirt floor arena and community room will be added for training heavy equipment and hosting community safety events.

The location of the new facility will be next to Bismarck State College and will be completed in 2017. The building will cost $6 million.

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