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#76: Safety in the Shipping Industry is a Little Different
67 Plays3 years ago
Jill explores the interesting safety procedures and expectations within the shipping industry. She is joined by experienced safety manager Kristina who shares her life long safety journey and how she got to where she is now.
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Transcript
Introduction of Guest and Episode Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
This is the Accidental Safety Pro brought to you by HSI. This episode was recorded July 9th, 2021. My name is Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer, and today I'm joined by Christina. Christina is a safety manager with a shipping company in Florida. Welcome to the show, Christina. Thanks so much for having me, Jill. I've been trying to get on this show forever.
00:00:34
Speaker
i'd love to hear the sound of that like people want to be on this accidental safety pro i love it uh you know the uh see this podcast turned three years old in may can you believe three years old that's so
00:00:49
Speaker
I know. That's great. Thank you for being a listener yourself. And thanks for your interest in wanting to come on and share your story. I'm I'm really interested to hear. I'm really interested. Yeah, I just and I got a shout out my friends at HSI, Susanna and Tim, who've been with me from the start. So that's awesome. They're going to love to
Christina's Unique Maritime Experience
00:01:08
Speaker
hear that.
00:01:08
Speaker
They're going to love to hear that. Good people, good people at HSI. Thank you for that. Yes, they are. I know we're going to dig into your whole story, but the other thing I wanted to shout out is I think you're my first guest who is here with maritime experience and we don't always have somebody who can talk about that, particularly maritime and compliance and health and safety and kind of the
00:01:35
Speaker
the winding, I shouldn't say road, because that would be wrong, because it's not a road, it's a body of water, right? Stream river, yeah. Well, Christina, with no further ado, tell us how you got into this field.
Career Transition to Safety Management
00:01:53
Speaker
Well, I didn't start out, no surprise. I actually intended when I went to college at University of Connecticut, I had gone in thinking that I was going to become a pharmacist by the time I graduated.
00:02:08
Speaker
And that didn't quite work out. So after two years, I didn't want to start all over again. And I was looking, well, what else can I do that's kind of similar to health and stuff and has some of my interest still. I didn't want to just change my major all completely and do a whole different thing where I had to start over in four years.
00:02:33
Speaker
And so I found the occupational safety and health program, and I was still able to graduate on time. Always a bonus. Yes, my parents like that very much. And before I graduated, I interviewed for a job, and I had one, which
Diverse Safety Experiences in Consulting
00:02:52
Speaker
was great. And then I started, after I graduated, I started two weeks at a safety and environmental health consulting firm out of Connecticut.
00:03:03
Speaker
you know, where I got so much experience, I mean, all kinds of manufacturing plants, some construction, I did a lot of environmental stuff. Yeah, it's a great way to see so many different industries and kind of decide like, do I really like any one of these or do I like the variety? Right, right. And it was good too, because at the end of the day, you could go home, you didn't work for like one of these companies, you know, you just consulted with them.
00:03:31
Speaker
Um, and I got to travel a lot, which was great. Um, I still get to travel now on
Relocation for Lifestyle and Career Enhancement
00:03:37
Speaker
my current job. Um, but you know, I just, I just got a lot of experience from that job before I decided, okay, I don't like Connecticut anymore. I got to move to Florida.
00:03:48
Speaker
Um, which is, you know, that's how I got to my job now where I just was online one day. I was like, I need to be somewhere either on the West coast or the East coast of Florida near a beach near some body of water. Um, I applied lifestyle lifestyle was your, was your driving factor in, um, in picking an industry like you, you wanted location. That's awesome. Okay.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I was tired of the cold and the snow. I keep telling people in my family, I'm like, hey, now is the time to move down. Oh, that's funny. Coming from the Midwest, I understand. And I think actually Connecticut's had some more horrendous winters than even Minnesota recently.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And you know, just down in Florida, there's more stuff to do year round. Sure. It's just great. So, but anyways, I, yeah, I, I got
Developing Company Safety Programs
00:04:41
Speaker
the job. I moved down within like two weeks and you know, I started here as a, as a safety coordinator.
00:04:48
Speaker
and I've been able to work my way up to safety manager which right now we're currently looking for a safety coordinator but I mean from the time I started until now like the safety program has pretty much been mine so which has been great they've given me just free to make the safety program mine and you know our company really values safety here it's
00:05:12
Speaker
It's our number one priority and I've been able to see a great change from when I first started until now to see how especially management has changed their tune on safety.
00:05:22
Speaker
everything that we do now, we always start with a safety moment, a risk assessment, whatever it may be, just to make sure that we cover all those bases before we go into a new project. Well, how lucky is that to be able to have free rein to create a program from the ground up and be supported along the way? That's phenomenal.
00:05:43
Speaker
I know that you talked about your education path and you thought it was going to be pharmaceuticals and here you are ending up in consulting and now in the shipping industry.
Influences and Motivations for Safety Career
00:05:56
Speaker
But I think you had a story to tell that how maybe a seed of safety got planted in you as maybe a little girl.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah I did and I didn't come to that realization probably until like a few years ago but I remember like probably when I was like around eight years old I had come home from school and my dad sitting on the stairs outside you know with his elbow all wrapped up or his shoulder all wrapped up he fell off a ladder.
00:06:27
Speaker
And, you know, I didn't think anything of at work and I didn't think anything of it at the time. And only until like recently, a few years ago, I went back and asked him, I said, hey, dad, I said, do you remember when you fell off that ladder a long time ago? You know, was that your fault? And more or less, he said, yeah, because he wasn't paying attention or something. But
00:06:50
Speaker
Fast forward a few years, a few years ago now, probably like three years ago, my dad became a training coordinator for his carpenters union, where he's now, he's on the other side, teaching OSHA classes and everything. And we have that, we have that special bond now. So I think that's been pretty cool to see that evolve from, you know, when he's been in construction his whole life,
00:07:14
Speaker
And now to be on the other side of it, I just think that's been great for something for us to share. And who knows? Maybe that did plant the seed years ago and I just didn't realize it until, you know, recently, but I think that's been really neat for us to have that special bond. Right. And maybe in some, in some way it made you hyper aware.
00:07:34
Speaker
of things that can go wrong, you know? Yeah, because I always tell my employees, you know, just be whatever you learn here, you can also take it home as well. Right. Because I want my end goal is to make sure that you come to work and you leave the work the same way.
Role as Solo Safety Operator in Shipping
00:07:50
Speaker
Um, you know, all your, all your fingers, all your toes, you know, and cause people rely on you at home, your family, your kids, whether it may be. Um, and I want to make sure that at least I can, I've done everything I can to make sure that happens. Yeah, right. Exactly. I mean, that's it, right? That's the biggest motivator. We want to be able to, um, you know, live our lives the way we want to live them and choose places like I want to live next to the ocean.
00:08:17
Speaker
And I'm going to follow a career for that. How lucky is that? That's awesome. So here you are working in the shipping industry. And it sounds like, are you a solo operator right now? Because you're looking for a helper. So you're doing this job on your own.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. It's just me running the safety show right now. Yeah. So anything and everything to do with safety goes through me. Yeah, right. And so, you know, your start in consulting, it sounds like maybe set the pace or set the groundwork for you to be able to do this work solo. You know, how is it that you have been able to win people over?
00:09:06
Speaker
as you started in this position from the ground up. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely being as a consultant, I got to see different businesses and how they operate. So I think I've been able to pull a little bit from each of the ones, like obviously there was ones that I went to that had a great safety program. You know, we were just there to help supplement that. And then there's other places I've been to where they had no safety program. So it was like we were starting from scratch with them, but
00:09:33
Speaker
being a consultant, you get to work with all different kinds of people. And I think that was great for me because again, whenever you start a new job, you have all these different kinds of personalities. You have to learn what pushes this person's buttons versus them, what motivates this person to try to get the best out of them.
00:09:53
Speaker
I definitely think, yeah, that first job I had did a great job of laying the foundation to help me get to where I am now as a manager.
Education's Role in Safety Management
00:10:02
Speaker
Yeah. And since you're not all that far from having graduated, what have you found to be most useful from your degree program that you've kind of leaned into, you know, as you're also learning all of these people skills?
00:10:18
Speaker
Yeah, so I got it. During my degree program, I took a lot of different classes. So I remember one class was all on HasWAPR, and we actually got certified for that. So that was great. One class was about safety management, which is more relevant now for me than it was earlier. But I think still knowing those original principles has been able to help me a lot.
00:10:44
Speaker
We did a class on OSHA standards, you know, how to look them up and what they mean and everything. So, I mean, there was a wide variety of classes that helped me. And also we had some hands-on experience as well, too. You know, we would go walk around the campus and see if we could spot any hazards.
00:11:00
Speaker
which was really cool too because there's a lot of things that people walk by every day now and don't even realize, but now I can't help every time I walk by a fire extinguisher to check the tag and see it's up to date. It's an occupational hazard to have your eyes trained to see all of those things.
00:11:22
Speaker
I've not found a way to turn that button off. After 27 years of this, I can't turn that button off. It's just the way that my eyes view the world.
Regulatory Compliance Challenges
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah. And always looking for an emergency exit when you go into a new place or something. It's like, okay, if something happens, how do I get out of here? Yep. These are conversations I've had with my son many times when we're in public places. It's like, okay, here's our, here's our safety plan. You see the exits. Our primary is here. Our secondary is here. This is going to be where our, you know, gathering places, if we're going to a concert or we're in a mall or, you know, we're in church.
00:11:59
Speaker
or in an auditorium. Yeah, anyway, it's been a long time since I've had that kind of conversation with COVID. Right. Oh, man. All right. So here you are in the shipping industry and you have a unique opportunity in this part of your career to be able to, when it comes to compliance,
00:12:26
Speaker
You've got a couple of different entities you're looking at and I'm wondering if you can talk about kind of how you've tackled all those because you have a maritime. I'm guessing you have general industry for when your employees are working not on the water. And I think you had mentioned to me that you're in charge of security too.
00:12:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's a lot, but we definitely have to be OSHA compliant, of course, because we have a warehouse and a maintenance shop. But we also have to deal with the Coast Guard, too, and our marine terminal, which has a whole different set of standards, especially when it comes to security. And also, we have to deal with customs and border protection. Oh, interesting.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, so they're constantly in our facilities, whether it's checking containers or making sure all the paperwork is correct. So we have a good balance of a lot of federal agencies we have to have good relationships with because they're in and out in here. We have to make sure, again, we have 100% compliance, otherwise that could lead to huge fines. And the shipping business is very small. Everybody knows each other.
00:13:35
Speaker
That stuff doesn't stay quiet for long. Interesting. Yeah. So when you, when you came to this organization, Christina, and you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm in charge of, you know, I, I have to, you know, know what I learned in school about 1910. Maybe you didn't learn very much about maritime. I know I didn't in my degree program. No, I didn't. And then, you know, it's like border protections and security where, how did you, how did you triage how you were going to decide where to start?
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, just a lot of the first few months when they first came here, it was just me watching. You know, because I knew general industry and stuff, but I didn't know our specific business. You know, we're different from most shipping carriers because we do everything from A to Z.
00:14:21
Speaker
from the size of a cell phone to a bulldozer. And we do like all the stuff in between. So if you want to know how the sausage is made, this is what our company does. Awesome. Yeah, I'm singing a song from Hamilton in my head right now when you said that. OK.
00:14:39
Speaker
Um, but anyways, yeah, so it was just like a lot of watching and observing, um, because I didn't want to come in and seem like, Oh, I know like all the OSHA regulations. You're not supposed to be doing that. You're not supposed to be doing this. Um, so I, the best way for me to learn was just to watch and ask questions. I had never seen a top pick before. Um, you know, so within like the first couple of months, I got trained on that.
00:15:03
Speaker
Don't ask me to drive one now because I won't. So for our audience who doesn't know what a top pick is, can you describe it? Yeah. So it's a machine that picks up shipping containers and you put them in stacks or you take it down and put it on a chassis or something. But yeah, it's it's a transporting device for containers. And it sits on on the shore or on the ship? Oh, no, it's on the shore. It's on these giant wheels that are taller than me.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So you're learning, you're getting to see all kinds of interesting equipment. I mean, that's just that in and of itself, your description of just taking time to watch and learn the business. So smart. So smart. You know, you're observing the hazards. You're learning how the work, like you said, the sausage is made and you're learning who all of the, all the roles are with the employees. You can start determining what you want to tackle for second and third.
00:16:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, definitely because again, these the the employees are the ones who are doing the job, you know, they were they wouldn't take well to me telling them how to do when I don't even know what the job is. Yeah. So I think that's the best. You know, that's
Adapting to Maritime Safety Standards
00:16:15
Speaker
our best asset is our employees. They know the job better than anybody. So that's wrong. Yeah. You know, especially when when we do our JSA's, I go to them first. Hey, tell me how to do this job. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. That's right. Don't make a guess.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, go to the go to the people with the with the historic knowledge. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, in your education, you learned how to read the regulations and you probably learned a lot about 1910, 1926 for people who are listening who are like, oh, man, I don't know if I want to, you know, how scary is it to jump into the land of yet another set of regulations? Was it tricky for you or were the themes sort of similar when you started reading the maritime standards?
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's pretty similar safety is safety is something doesn't look right. It probably isn't right. Yeah. There definitely were things I would have to look up for sure.
Organizing the Inaugural Safety Week
00:17:09
Speaker
Like, oh, is it, you know, do we have a different fall protection standard here versus, you know, construction or, you know, what's the rule say about working near water? Those things definitely had to look up. But, you know, for the most part, safety, again,
00:17:24
Speaker
If something doesn't look right, it's probably not right. So you probably shouldn't be doing it if you have to question it. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. So I know that, I mean, you've been at this job now for how long? Just over five years now. Wow. Well, congratulations. That's a big milestone. It is. It is. Yeah. And I think you've done something unique with your company in this last year, if I'm remembering right. You did some something for a first time.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah, actually last month we just had our first ever safety week, which was great. So tell us what does that sound like? What does it entail for people who are listening who are like, safety week? What could that be? Sure. So since June is national safety month, we wanted to do something that recognizes our employees and put a spotlight on safety. So we had a whole week dedicated
00:18:18
Speaker
to things related to health and safety. We had a chiropractor come in, we had a massage therapist, we had a food truck, we had a representative from our insurance company come in and do talks about hazard recognition and general safety awareness. Good idea. Yeah, and probably one of the coolest things we did was a forklift obstacle course.
00:18:40
Speaker
Okay, what was that like? So we set up a course and you know with cones and everything and we said you know the operator who can complete the course and the fastest time will win a gift card obviously in a safe speed you can't be speeding through but you know that we had great participation throughout the whole week we ended on a food truck and a raffle and really just again put the focus on safety because
00:19:06
Speaker
this is what makes our company run. If we don't have employees, we don't have a company. But probably one of the most important things we did is we put up a board in all our facilities and it said why I'm safe. And I asked every employee to put their reason on there for being safe, whether it was for family, for kids, for their pets, whatever it may be, and to use that reason as a reminder why you choose to come to work safely. Because that's your why. Everybody has their own personal why.
00:19:36
Speaker
Just to remember, again, you choose to be safe for whatever that reason is. And we still have those hanging up, which is great because I want people to see that every day when they come in. Yeah, I have a colleague in safety whose company did something similar in a way of remembering their why. And they took kids' art.
00:20:00
Speaker
like children of the employees and essentially papered a main hall that everybody walks through with all these kids are from families that worked there as a you know a reminder of you know we're going we're going home whole and safe to these families and you know we're here as a as a big family that goes to another family
00:20:27
Speaker
And as a safety professional, that's what you want. You want for everybody to go home to their family. So I think it was great. And, you know, we had a great week. We had great turnout, um, for the first, you know, we were able to put this all together in just about two months. Wow. So yeah, for a first time, I think it came out really well. Yeah. Well, and you know, you said that it sounds like you were focusing on whole health.
00:20:51
Speaker
for the human, for us as humans, when you said you brought in a chiropractor and a massage therapist and presenters from your insurance company to present on safety. How was that in terms of when you pitched it to your management team, particularly the non-typical safety piece, like a massage therapist and a chiropractor? Was that hard to sell or how did that go?
00:21:17
Speaker
uh no you know what everybody hears massage you're like yeah sign me up so we actually we have to limit spots because we didn't have the massage therapist you know for all that much time but um yeah it was great and especially when the chiropractor came in for the office personnel that are sitting at desks i think they really connected to that the most because
00:21:36
Speaker
The chiropractor was able to look at their workstation and see, okay, well, maybe you need to raise this monitor up or put your chair down a bit.
Leveraging Insurance Resources for Safety
00:21:44
Speaker
So they really responded well to that. Um, just to see, cause you know, a lot of times the safety stuff doesn't really apply to the office personnel as much. So we wanted to make sure this whole week was all inclusive for every, every employee we have office ergonomics is a.
00:21:57
Speaker
big deal. And if you can mitigate those risks for those aches and pains for employees, neck, shoulders, hands and arms, I mean, that pain is real. And it's a really good thing to pay attention to. That's awesome. So you mentioned you brought in some people from your insurance company. Can you talk about that? I think that's an
00:22:20
Speaker
underutilized resource for many of us, particularly those of us who are solo operators. And sometimes people forget that that's something that a lever that you can pull as a help aid. So can you talk about that?
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So we belong to an insurance mutual and like they have all these great benefits. I mean, they'll do trainings. We just had a safety management, um, safety leadership for management training a couple months ago that they put on for free. They'll come in and do audits. Um, you know, they were gracious enough to help.
00:22:54
Speaker
with help out with safety week. But I think, yeah, it's great to have a good relationship with your rep because they offer all these things that sometimes you don't even know about. I mean, on their website, they have all these templates for plans and everything is on there. And I just don't like, even I haven't taken enough advantage of it, but it's on there. And, you know, just because they work for the insurance company doesn't mean it's a bad thing. They want to see all the good things that you're doing. Right.
00:23:20
Speaker
They want to see all the good things that you're doing and when it comes time for renewals for premiums, being able to show and showcase the things that you have can help your premium. Obviously your experience with injuries and illnesses comes into play as well in their formula.
00:23:39
Speaker
but they're going to want to know that stuff but the great part with insurance companies and brokers and so when when uh when christina is talking about insurance it could be um help that you might get from your workers compensation carrier or your third party administrator with work comp
00:23:54
Speaker
It could also be your property and liability. It could also be your insurance broker if you work with a broker. So all of those entities employ safety health professionals. They're often called risk consultants in the insurance world, and they often employ or contract with industrial hygiene, industrial hygienists as well.
00:24:19
Speaker
And I know if you have to do some monitoring or air monitoring, you can call one of your insurance lines and say, hey, do you have an IH who might be able to do this for us for free? Or a discounted rate versus us trying to find a consultant in the ether. And it's nice to have another set of eyes to come in. Christina, you said you've had them come and do some hazard recognition for you. That's a brilliant thing to do.
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah. I always think it's good to get fresh eyes in there because there's could be things that you walk by all the time and not see. And then somebody else comes in and says, Hey, you know, did you, did you know this was here or not? And you say, wow, I walk past that all the time. So, um, I love when people come in and do the audits, you know, especially, you know, if they're not going to report to OSHA, right? Yeah, right. Exactly. I mean, it's, it's a learning opportunity for everybody. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:13
Speaker
It's an opportunity for growth to see, okay, this is what we're doing good on. This is where we need to improve on. It's not a bad thing. You want to see where you can get to. Absolutely. Every time I did an investigation as an OSHA investigator,
00:25:28
Speaker
people would say to me, oh man, like how did I miss that? Like really? I've been walking past that thing for the last five years, 30 years, six months, you know, whatever it was. I heard that so many times. And it's, you know, I always said the same thing. Don't beat yourself up over it. I mean, our eyes get comfortable with things and it's good to have fresh eyes come in.
00:25:51
Speaker
And I'm certainly not going to see everything and the next person's maybe going to see something else and the next person after that is going to see something else. So it's really nice to kind of build that coalition of helpers with the resources that you have at your disposal, particularly when you're probably already paying for those services.
00:26:11
Speaker
Exactly, too. Yeah, that's the thing is you pay for this. So use it. Yeah, right. Right. Right. So I know that you are one of those rare ducks in the world of safety who has a boss who says there's no budget when it comes to safety.
00:26:28
Speaker
Yes. Gosh, you are so
Budget Freedom and Executive Support
00:26:31
Speaker
lucky. So what is that? How does that work in the real world? Tell us, tell us what that's like for those of us who are like, what? Yeah. So yeah, when you hear we have no budget for safety, you're like, wow. Okay.
00:26:43
Speaker
But I also know that means I can't just go spend frivolously on whatever I want. If there's a need for something for safety, we'll get it done. That's what that means is that safety comes first and we don't we don't care what it costs. We'll do it if we need it. Yeah. You know, I'm still a very, you know,
00:27:03
Speaker
focused on as far as trying to other resources before I need to go spend a large amount of money. But if I need to, I know that I have the support, but it's, it's great. Having the executive support has probably been like one of the best things for my career because I've been able to help grow this program.
00:27:21
Speaker
and grow the culture. Um, but if you don't have executive support, it's very hard to do that. It needs to start from the top down. So, you know, definitely not having a budget helps for sure. And so what does executive support look like in terms of your access to your leadership team? Do you have like their ear, you walk in their office, or do you have the opportunity to meet with your leadership team every so often for a check-in and present to them or how does that work?
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah. Um, the executive team is very accessible. I mean, you know, if I have an issue, I'll just walk into my boss's office and let him know, or send him an email. Hey, we have this going on. What do you think about this? You know, I already sourced solutions and I'll let him pick, um, for whatever it is. I like to do all the groundwork first before I go to present something. You know, I want to make sure.
00:28:10
Speaker
If he's going to ask questions, I have answers for those already. And if I don't, I'll let him know, hey, I'll get back to you on this. Very good. Very good, Christina. That's a really good practice. Because those of us who practice health and safety, we can't assume that our bosses know what we know. And most of the time, they don't. And so it's really wonderful that you're doing that groundwork to be able to present a problem and
00:28:37
Speaker
and essentially a menu of choices like here are various ways we could take care of this. Yeah and also the leadership team here is present. I mean my boss goes to all the facilities every day you know says hi to the people you know comes in I mean he yeah so that's that's a great thing too is that you know
Data and Technology in Safety Tracking
00:28:59
Speaker
He's not just doing it just just cause, but he takes time to talk to people. He'll walk out on the floor multiple times a day, which is great just just to have that presence there so people know that he's not just sitting in his office, you know, doing whatever. But he actually he cares and you can see that. So that's great. Is there, Kristina, is there, I know I'm asking some really specific nuts and bolts questions, but I think it's so good for our audience to hear practitioners and how they approach different things.
00:29:28
Speaker
I'm curious if there's any specific sort of data that you gather that you use for leverage or benchmarking, what's happening in your industry and of course, where you work. Yeah, sure. I mean, we use the national data that comes out for our industry and we compare it to our
00:29:54
Speaker
our lost time injury rates, our total recordable injury rates every year. I mean, every quarter I update the numbers and we send it into our corporate.
00:30:03
Speaker
safety director so they could see all the different entities in our business and see where we stack up versus the national average, whatever it may be. But I mean, there's certain things that I keep just for our business. I definitely like to record all the near misses and all the incidents, but I also break it down as to where they're happening and which department to see, okay, well, if we have 10 incidents this month in this department,
00:30:30
Speaker
Why is that happening versus we had none last month. So, um, it's definitely, yeah, it's, it's definitely data-driven. I mean, we're, we're definitely evolving, um, with technology. We, we were able to create our own in-house app last year. Um, yeah, that's been really cool to get rid of a lot of the paperwork. Um, so now everything's just done electronically.
00:30:51
Speaker
whether it's our near miss reporting, our facility inspections, our equipment inspections. I mean, everything is done now through a phone or a tablet. It's been really good for that. And the injury and illness data you were talking about, is that something that you're gathering through the OSHA 300 blog? Are you doing it through work comp data or both?
00:31:15
Speaker
Um, both, um, because, you know, not everything is a recordable. So, but I keep every incident that we have, you know, if it's something small, I have a folder for it. Just in case, you know, something comes back later, you know, I have all the information for that. So I'd rather us over report than to not report it all. And, you know, when I first started here, we had a problem with not reporting things.
00:31:36
Speaker
So I think we've turned that around and now we report everything, which is, I'd rather have that. So I'm good with that. I did that. I did that too. In my, um, one of my last positions and it was a little bit of a leap of faith for my management team. When I said, I'm going to encourage our supervisors and all of our employees to report early and often.
00:31:56
Speaker
because that's when that's that helps because things aren't catastrophic early and often and you're finding out what those trends are so you can try to start mitigating any risk before something catastrophic happens yeah that's cool and you had mentioned that you're benchmarking against some industry numbers are you getting that from like the bureau of labor statistics or are you working okay yeah
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah, so Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, for anyone who's maybe never heard of them before, oh my gosh, you can get lost on that website for, you know, like days and weeks. Because it's, I mean, if you're a data driven, want to geek out and really look at every slice of a workforce and what
00:32:42
Speaker
you know, time of day, things happen, ten year of, you know, things that happen, what's happening with your industry. You can drill right into your industry's NAICS code and just so much
Applying Standards to Caribbean Operations
00:32:55
Speaker
more. It's a, it's a great, it's a wealth of information if no one has ever tapped BLS for data. Yeah.
00:33:04
Speaker
Yeah, I don't go on the website. I get them sent from somebody at our corporate office, so he just sends, here's the stuff for your industry. I'm like, great, because I don't want to go on that website. Yeah, takes a special person. Like I said, you can get lost there for a long time. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, so you had mentioned earlier that you get to travel for your work, and it sounds like you get to travel off the mainland sometimes too. What does safety look like when you're traveling, particularly when you leave the mainland?
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, so in the Caribbean islands, safety is very different than here in the US. Obviously, they don't have OSHA, but one of my challenges has tried to implement our program that we have here in the States to our employees we have in the Caribbean.
00:34:02
Speaker
We started with some guys were wearing sandals on the forklift and no seat belt. So I think we've turned that around where we'd say at least, you know, we're closed toed shoes. And please make sure at least one on there that the seat belt is on at all times, please.
00:34:19
Speaker
You know, it's hard to monitor because I don't, I don't go there all that often, but, um, we implemented the same, we did a forklift inspection app that they, that they use now too. So all the emails get sent to the maintenance department. If anything's wrong, um, with the forklift, we have eyes immediately on that. Um, we did toolbox talks over there. I mean, I've done various safety trainings, um, and just meeting with the various port personnel, um, in each different location has been, has been great as well to see, okay, well,
00:34:47
Speaker
Do you need help from our side? What things do you like here? What things do we need to improve on? It's definitely been a challenge, but I think that for the most part, people have been receptive to it.
00:35:02
Speaker
I remember sending one of our employees just a hard hat and a vest. And he was just so appreciative of that. It's like the little things here that you wouldn't think of. I just gave somebody a vest that cost like $3. But to them, it's great at least to feel a part of something. So you feel like you're at least look the part too as well.
Fostering a Positive Safety Culture
00:35:26
Speaker
That's a big thing for them.
00:35:28
Speaker
Have you been able to successfully grow any safety leaders there? You know, since you said you don't get to go there very often. Yeah.
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm in constant communication with our various employees, and I'm like, hey, if you need anything, let me know. Or if something doesn't look right, send me a picture. I've definitely gotten a lot of pictures and videos from people where maybe they receive a load that's improperly loaded, a container that's improperly loaded.
00:35:58
Speaker
Um, so then I bring it back to our team over here and say, Hey guys, this is what was sent over. Um, take a look at this and see, see what we can do better or something like that. So definitely people have spoken up, um, which is good because sometimes we just think, Oh, once it goes there, that's it. But they have a whole different set of challenges over there because they don't have the same infrastructure we do. I mean, the roads have.
00:36:22
Speaker
millions of potholes in them. Um, so we have to make sure that our equipment is 100% before we put it on our boat. And it gets over there because if something doesn't, if we don't receive something well, it's probably not going to end well. So, um, yeah, they don't have the same, um, resources that we do in the U S so it's, it's, it's been a challenge, but I think we're, we're on the right track to getting where we need to be. Sounds like you're learning a lot. Yeah.
00:36:50
Speaker
For sure, yep. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, you know, as we're as we're winding up our time together today, Christina, I'm wondering if there's any if there's anything you'd like to share with our audience or best practices or what you know for sure about our about our practice.
00:37:11
Speaker
Um, you know, I think in my, my short career so far as a safety professional, I would say take the time to get to know your employees. Um, I think that's probably been one of the biggest lessons for me, you know, and, and I'm still working on listening. You know, I have, I have like little patients. Um, but I think one of the best things I've done at least recently in the past few years is just take the time to listen.
00:37:33
Speaker
Um, you know, it's easy to come back at somebody and say, no, you're not doing that right. You know, but, but just take time to listen to see where people come from. I mean, um, I'll leave you on this note when, when I first started, um, you know, I happened to be outside, um,
00:37:49
Speaker
with one of the managers outside and I turned around and I see an employee standing on top of a pallet that's raised by a forklift like 10 feet in the air and the other employee in the forklift. And being a safety professional, you can't just not say something. That's a huge thing.
00:38:10
Speaker
So, you know, long story short, those employees ended up getting written up, which again, is never your intention as a safety person. You're not trying to be the crap. But anyways, and one of the employees, you know, he was kind of sour towards me for a little bit, but he came around afterwards and told me, he goes, he goes, I know you weren't trying to get me written up, but he goes, now I understand what your job is here.
00:38:34
Speaker
And yeah, and I just, and now he's like one of the best safety people I have out there. So I just think that with some time and getting to know your people, you know, you really can, can grow your safety culture.
Conclusion and Invitation to Subscribe
00:38:47
Speaker
And that's, that's been probably one of the more rewarding experiences I've had.
00:38:51
Speaker
you know, being in safety. Yeah. When you have those wins, when you have those wins, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. It makes the work worth it. Makes the work worth it. For sure. Yeah. One person at a time is often how it goes.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, Christina, thank you so much for your time and thanks for sharing your idea about why I'm safe bored. I think that's great and congratulations on successfully launching your first ever safety week. I hope you get to do it next year too.
00:39:27
Speaker
Thank you so much, Jill. It's been great to be on here. You're welcome. And thank you all for spending your time listening today. And more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good, making sure your workers, including your temporary workers, make it home safe every day.
00:39:42
Speaker
If you'd like to join the conversation about this episode or any of our previous episodes, you can follow our page and join the Accidental Safety Pro Community Group on Facebook. If you're not subscribed to the podcast yet and want to hear past and future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple Podcast app, or any other podcast player you'd like. We'd really love it if you could leave a rating for us and a review on iTunes. It really helps us connect to the show with more and more safety professionals like Christina and I.
00:40:11
Speaker
And special thanks to Naeem Jarisey, who is our podcast producer, and this is his first show. So welcome as the podcast producer. Naeem, really appreciate having you here. And everybody else, until next time, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it.