Davey Tree Flipbooks

14 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | September/October 2019 SAFETY FAMILY FEEL KEEPS SANTA CLARA CREWS SAFE Family is one of the biggest motivating factors when it comes to keeping Davey employees safe. Everyone works hard to make sure their coworkers return home safe to their families each day. But what happens when your coworkers are like family? Your safety record becomes almost immaculate. That's what it's like for the tight-knit crews working the Santa Clara account off the southeastern tip of San Francisco Bay in the heart of Silicon Valley. Four crews, 10 employees total, manage line clearance services for about 18 square miles, including working in and around substations and 60kVA and 120kVA lines providing electricity to about 118,000 residents. The account maintained a Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) of zero in 2018 and, in fact, has been incident-free since 2007, said Arturo Montoya, general foreman, Santa Clara account. Montoya said once or twice a month all the crew members on the account go out to eat at a restaurant and socialize. "All of us, we go," Montoya said. "That's what I like, that we work as a team and participate as a team." Cory Thomsen, operations manager, Davey Tree Surgery Company, said small teams like Santa Clara naturally benefit from their close-knit nature. "When you have a close operation you talk a lot, and not necessarily about work," he said. "It's a little more personable. It helps because having that connection with your crew members means you might watch out for them that much more closely because you know their family Crew members on the Santa Clara account include: Arturo Montoya, general foreman; Marcos Hernandez, foreman; Juan Gutierrez, foreman; Sergio Rodríguez, foreman; Isidro Juárez, foreman; Alberto Castellanos, climber; Omar Rios, climber; Brian Garcia climber; Miguel Garcia, climber; and Margarito Morales, climber. names. You know where they live. You socialize and have barbecues together." Such strong internal relationships tend to expand and incorporate the client, Thomsen said. "We're dealing straight with the troublemen from the city of Santa Clara who write tags on trees that need to be done immediately," Thomsen said. "They have a tree planner who does all their patrol for them, so he sees them every day also. There's a high management-to-crew ratio." Montoya said their strong partnership with the city places safety at the forefront of operations. "They will shut down the electricity for us if we need to," he said. "We work really well with the electricians at the city." Davey resources also play an important role in their incident rate. Montoya works closely with safety trainers in the Livermore office and regularly plans training sessions. Sid Sanchez, area supervisor, said the small number of crews and their close proximity makes it easy for Montoya and the account's work planner to have frequent interactions with the crews. That combined with the regular interaction with the client and Davey safety personnel amplifies and reinforces safe operating procedures. "That has a lot to do with safety," Sanchez said. "The managers spending more time with the crews, I think, is key."

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