Dave Shoenfelt has seen how hard it is for a disabled person to find a job.

Watching his cousin have problems finding a job made Shoenfelt, vice president of engineering for Premier Hydraulics Inc. of Farrell, want to do what he could to hire people like his cousin.

"There was nothing wrong with him except he was in a wheelchair," he said of his cousin, who works for Altoona’s 911 agency.

Premier’s record of hiring people with disabilities earned it the Medium Employer of the Year Award in November at the 47th Annual Conference of the Governor’s Committee on the Employment of People With Disabilities.

The company, which employs 75, has hired about 15 disabled people through the state Department of Labor and Industry’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation since 1995, said Pat Simon, OVR job placement counselor in Mercer County.

Some of the company’s most-veteran workers came from OVR.

"Our folks can go there and have an opportunity for long-term employment at this company," said Ms. Simon, who nominated Premier for the award.

Premier president Kyle Klaric said he was skeptical of hiring through OVR, which screens applicants and forwards applications to companies looking to hire.

But the success of the program for Premier is shown in the "very, very low" turnover rate of employees hired through OVR, Klaric said.

"It’s not 100 percent successful, but I can’t hire guys off the street with 100 percent success," said Todd Diehl, vice president of operations.

Diehl said because Premier, which makes hydraulic valves and fittings for off-highway original equipment manufacturers, is more technology-intensive than labor-intensive, it is more able to accommodate people with disabilities.

"It fits into our company," he said.

Ms. Simon said Premier is willing to make changes so that disabled people are able to work for the company.

Shoenfelt said the company had to lower machinery and benches in the quality control room, bring in a reclining chair so an employee who uses a wheelchair can rest and take pressure off his back and modify its parking area for better wheelchair access.

"You may have to go to some lengths and some expenditures, but it’s part of the business." Shoenfelt said. "I think many employers don’t want to go the extra mile."

The company built a handicapped-access bathroom and break room with a $50,000 state grant available through OVR.

Companies have to be creative to use the skills of people with disabilities, Diehl said. Premier created a new job position for Jimmy Macko, 21, of Greenville.

Because of cerebral palsy, Macko cannot operate machinery, Diehl said. So the company has him conducting time studies, which include reports on production, the number of parts made, who performed what tasks, and money made and lost, by shift, day and week.

"The time studies were almost nothing when I started," said Macko, an 11-month employee and 1998 graduate of West Middlesex High School. "It’s come a long way since I started here."

Macko has generated "an incredible amount" of information, Diehl said.

"He has given me enough information that I can make the company more efficient," Diehl said. "Just because he has a disability doesn’t mean we can’t utilize him to make the company money."

OVR has grants available for employers who want to expand or need accommodations or equipment to hire people with disabilities, Ms. Simon said.

OVR also can pay a portion of a disabled person’s salary during a training period, and help an employer get state and federal tax credits.

Regenex Corp. of West Middlesex won a Governor’s Committee award in 1997.