Safety Conference Phoenix, AZ. Good Afternoon, I want to thank Wes Wheeler and Mike Johnston for

Transcription

1 Safety Conference Phoenix, AZ Good Afternoon, I want to thank Wes Wheeler and Mike Johnston for the invitation to speak with you today. I also want to recognize our HR Director, Mike Oliver and Safety Director, William Watson. This conference undoubtedly is the most important among the NECA Associations. NECA is viewed as the Leader in the Electrical Industry and we must lead the industry in safety. With that in mind Safety is an evolution as well as a happening. I was asked by Wes to speak on what safety means to me as President of Miller Electric Company. To truly state what Safety means to me I want to focus my remarks on 3 areas: Personal Professional People

2 On the Personal: As an Executive who had the opportunity to come through the Local Apprenticeship, on to Journeyman Wireman into Field Leadership then transition to management. Safety during my field experience was viewed many times as a hindrance to my daily responsibility not realizing the importance of my own personal livelihood being at risk. As I began to grow in my career I began to realize as a Field Leader I had the responsibility to ensure the people in my sphere were my responsibility. Today when I review the safety reports from our projects a common denominator is the Field Leadership. If the Leadership gets it, the workforce gets it. As safety professionals I encourage you to never take for granted the role of the Field Leader which includes on site Project Managers, Project Engineers, Supt, General Foreman and the Foreman along with the IBEW Union Steward. These individuals will be

3 the key to your success. We have experienced instances where a change on a job site to a person who takes Safety serious has a great impact to the outcome of the incidents. Now, you notice, I left out the Safety Person, why?? The Safety Person on a job site only maps around the road for the journey it s the Field Leadership that drives the Safety vehicle daily. You can have the best Safety Person on site and without support and partnership of the Field Leadership you will not enjoy the success you hope for on the project. So my personal experience on the project is Field Leadership is essential. On the Professional: Other words, wearing my Executive Hat. What does Safety mean to me? The definition of Safety for me is this one It s the condition of being protected from, or unlikely to cause danger, risk or injury.

4 Other words as President, I have the responsibility to create the condition where every employee at our company is not only protected, but in fact they are prevented from the unlikely cause of danger or risk or injury. It s our goal at Miller Electric that every jobsite has the ability to work in an environment where people are free from danger, risk or injury. The families of team members expect and should be confident that professionally we are doing everything necessary things to protect their loved ones while they are working for our company. In order to do this it cost our company something. You know it costs dollars, it cost us sometimes customers and yes sometimes it cost us to by discharging employees. To have an effective Safety Program Executively we have to be all in. Yes, there are costs but I can prove the ROI is always positive. A safe worker is a productive worker not only that a safe worker is all always at work not on light duty, not rehab, but installing electrical work. So the dollars it cost it will have positive ROI.

5 Safety can cost you customers, yes, we have to make the hard choices with customers; however for every customer we lost we always gain others want a safe electrical contractor. Their thoughts are the same as ours it s about the people and the profits will show up with the customers. We have also had to discharge great workers and that s the hardest part because many times we know the intent is proper, however the procedure can be putting others in jeopardy. And yes with discharges, we have grievances!!! Life is good! Now, if you are here and you say, how can I sell a great safety program to my Executive? I will give you an outline that we look for executively.

6 Your outline must involve four things. Funding has to be addressed ROI No Investment, No Return Safety ROI is not immediate; it s a long term investment Dollars spent today can only be measured with time If you re total incident rate increases your revenue opportunities will decrease (remember that) Policies The backbone of the Safety Program Created properly it should create freedom not restrictions Without structure people will inherently wonder Policies should be created collaborative Policies should show people how to be effective, and efficient as possible

7 Training You must Train, Train, Train, Train, did I say Train. We must educate workers; it s a greater challenge than ever before why?? Different Workforce Less hands on before hiring Organizing Different Skill Set Training Goals should be 2 things #1 everyone should be educated #2 the right people are certified, Let me explain Everyone should know about the hazard identified by NFPA 70E The right people should be certified to work in Non Energized Situations

8 Lift Equipment Everyone should be trained The right people certified to operate equipment Accountability Accountability requires tracking which demands great data and reporting, because we all know the numbers that we take our eyes off of always begin to creep up. Accountability is an exercise that is required, Top Down, Bottom Up, Side to Side, in other words there must be clear precise guidelines and repercussions to willful violations. Guess What? That is what OSHA does. You must to have a detail a clear plan for accountability share with the IBEW, JATC, NECA Manager Be clear of the expectations and the requirements and the repercussions. In order to sell a great safety program to your Executive you need to demonstrate the Funding, Policies, Training, and Accountability is what you should demonstrate internally, executively and externally outwardly.

9 So Safety what it means to me! #1 Personally when I was in the Field #2 Professionally as an Executive Now let me share with you the hardest, the People. What do I mean about the People? Let s discuss the loved ones The Family It s a Grandmother raising who is helping raise two grandkids who had and electrician father It s a wife in of Journeyman who is crying not sure what to do It s a mother and two daughters whose Father has been injured severely and they want to know what to say when we go in to visit It s a new Wife who has now realized the love of her life is in critical condition and the future is dim It s a Father who is in a burn unit, and he doesn t know not what hospital he is in

10 It s a Pastor at the back of a rescue unit who is trying to minister to a family he has known for years It s a Sister in the elevator lobby of the burn unit trying to understand what s going on It s a Doctor on Saturday night trying to share with me the bad news and the options the family is facing that he and I have to go share with 10 family members It s a young nurse that says sir that man over there is calling you, he s one of yours, I don t know if you can recognize him People there is the Executives Or let me give the another side, its an Executive who I have to call his home or office and set up to meet with him, to explain to him the catastrophic event Or its the Engineer or Plant Manager who I have to describe to him the chain of events and our recovery process, all the while I am explaining how I am protecting his workers and his facility

11 Or the Public Relations Manager or Reporter trying to explain to them in non construction terms the chain of events, while I am protecting the worker, his family and the owner of the facility People there is the Co Workers These are men and women who have witnesses or been very near to a catastrophic event, they are not only concerned about the ones injured; now there re concerned about themselves and others. Their confidence and pride in their training has been impacted. Many times there s are Job Stewards and IBEW Leadership that have a sense of responsibility to determine future operations. It can be a young apprentice who just witnessed something he will never forget and he is wondering if this career is for him.

12 People there is our Company Managers Assuring them they are not responsible Helping them resume the recovery responsibility Directing them on how to motivate the manpower for the process of recovery Asking them to focus on the task at hand and leave the injured to others Reviewing very clear and precise method of procedures going forward People there is The Worker who has been injured The worker who said Mr. Long check on my buddy from his hospital bed, while I held his charred hand and he says he s worse than me help him Or the fellow who can barely speak and he say s David, I don t know what happened.

13 Or can they put something on my face it s on fire. Safety is about the people, who are standing with me at a hospital bed and I have the task of telling them their family is going to be ok. SAFETY IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE You see, I just described to you what I lived through as President the first 100 hours after a catastrophic event. The People Why? What s next? What are you going to do about it? Will it be ok? The Family is my loved one going to be ok? Are we going to be ok financially? Why did you let this happen?

14 To the Executive Did we hire the right company? To the Plant Manager What is your recovery plan? To the Plant Engineer Why did you let this happen? To the Co Worker What happened to my friend, my brother? What should I do next? How did you let this happen? To the Public Relations What happened? What is the Story? To the Legal Root cause, who s going to pay and one more why did you let this happen? Personal It s easy for me to talk about my field experience Professional It s easy to talk about a Safety Program the dollars and cents. People It s a nightmare I wish on NO ONE that I remember every day.

15 As a Safety Professional that s your message to your Executives and you re Team Members. They may not have the Field Experience They may be reluctant about the program. But they can be assured they don t want the People Event I am going to leave with this thought: The people you never get to really know in your business are the people you really have befriended. In other words the people the Doctors, wives, children, husbands, grandparents, grandchildren, sister, brother, pastor, neighbor, nurses and friends, that we never come in contact with is the People we have blessed.

16 I shared with a Business Manager the other day who was disgruntled because we terminated some unsafe workers after he said you know some people think you have forgotten you came from the field. I am glad I don t think like I did when I was in the Field!! I said to him I am glad the workers are telling the people that about me rather than me telling them I didn t know what happened to them You will protect all kinds of people. Good people, bad people, happy people and mad people as a Safety Professional let it be our goal not to have the address the Sad People. You see the Sad People are the people who have been impacted by a catastrophic event. That s what it means to me. The People I hope I never get to Know! Thank you and my God Bless each of you.