Davey Tree Flipbooks

20 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | May/June 2021 CREATING A CULTURE OF CARING The National Grid Rhode Island account has fostered a safety culture based on strong communication and creating a culture of caring for each other. In 2020, the National Grid Rhode Island account recorded 56,044 hours while maintaining a 0.0 OSHA Total Recordable Incident Rate. Two years ago, a weekly Friday morning safety call routine started with roughly 60 employees from two Eastern Utility regions, Wolf Tree, representatives from the Corporate Safety Department and Motor Carrier Department, said Matt Roddy, operations manager. Above: The crews are completing routine maintenance trimming work, such as bush cutting from the ground and tree trimming from buckets. Other crews concentrate solely on tree removals. Left: The National Grid Rhode Island Account performs a lot of storm work, often including long nights. Axel Oschmann said managers ensure the crews are comfortable performing the work. If not, the work is postponed until daylight when they can get a better sense of the job at hand. SAFETY "You have to be out there with your crews, especially when bringing new crew members on board," Roddy said. "You have to be doing the same things that you're asking them to do. They need to know that you're on their side and you're there to help them. Having those in person, face-to-face interactions with the crew members is how you drive that culture of safety and caring forward." "We've seen an uptick in information sharing as it relates to incidents, close calls and all stops on these weekly safety calls and within our service line in general," Roddy said. "We are working together to share that information, because learning from one of those close calls could prevent a similar incident." In addition to the Friday morning safety calls, the National Grid Rhode Island account also communicates with other Eastern Utility accounts within the region to ask for guidance on how to tackle situations that are new to them. "I will call Matt and he will direct me to others within Eastern Utility that have come across a similar situation," said Axel Oschmann, area manager. "Then I'll have them walk me through the process they followed and ask for guidance." When it comes to safety, the crew members are on an even footing when it comes to calling all stops, Oschmann said. The groundperson is just as important as the foreman. "Anyone can call an 'All-Stop' at any time and no one shames anyone for asking a question," Oschmann said. "If they aren't positive on something or the job plan needs to be reworked, I encourage them to call our Supervisors Shaun Barber, Carlos Ereio or me and we will all walk through it together." Building a strong safety culture is also about leading by example and showing that you care about each crew member, Roddy said. " We are working together to share that information, because learning from one of those close calls could prevent a similar incident. "

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