I recently attended a RESAP Area Administrators meeting in Louisville, KY when Bud Branham, Director of Safety Programs at NRECA began the meeting with a statement something like this:
“We have an opportunity to make a real impact at many cooperatives all across the nation by the things that we decide in this room over the next two days.”
What a great opening statement. So many times, it’s easy to go through the motions of another meeting without even thinking about the opportunity to make a difference. And I think there’s many times when we make a difference yet are unaware that many of our actions make some kind of difference, positive or negative.
It’s really important to consider the impact that each one of us can make wherever we go. And it’s important that we let others know when they make a difference in our lives. It was Pastor Appreciation Day last Sunday and I made sure to take a few minutes to write a note and let my pastor know the difference he makes in my life. Sometimes, your words may be the one thing that helps someone else make it through the next month as they struggle with the same issues in life that every one of us face.
Who has made a difference in your life? It’s much better to let them know now rather than mention it during their calling hours.
I keep this 4 x 6 frame on my desk as a reminder every day that I am in my office to help me not get lost in my checklist. It’s a quote from Bono of U2:
“The World is More Malleable than you Think. And it’s Waiting for YOU to Hammer it Into Shape.”
Is that really possible? If we look back 3.5 years ago with COVID, it pretty much proves the point. But does my life and do my actions really reflect that belief? Do I just work to survive day to day or actually thrive and try to help others to do the same?
What does all of this have to do with safety? Everything! We sometimes make this really nice-looking box and then write “Safety” on the side of it and stick our safety programs into it. Then we try to control it with whatever we put in and take out of that box. We buy a tool and stick it into the box. We make a rule and stick it into the box. We hire a lineman and stick him into the box. RESAP goes in there for sure, the safety coordinator, safety meetings, and our Commitment to Zero Contacts program also. The box gets a lot of attention, but it remains kind of a mystery to most how it all works.
But you can’t box safety up because the safety of our workers depends on everything outside of that box too. The culture of the entire cooperative influences the safety of our workers in the field. When you hear folks talk about safety being a value rather than a priority that shifts with circumstances, that’s what they mean. It involves everyone: your linemen, yes, ops manager and line supervisor, yes, safety coordinator, yes. But it also involves member services, engineering, IT, legal, and communications. And what about senior leadership? That’s the most important part of your safety program! In its most basic form, the safety coordinator’s role is simply to help everyone at the co-op understand and own their part in the safety program. When safety becomes a value, it’s like this super large blanket that covers everyone at the co-op rather than a box we stick a few safety-related things into. Not everyone totally gets it, but everyone buys into it because they understand that’s the culture of the cooperative. So, go ahead and turn your safety box upside down and dump it out on your cooperative floor. Shake it hard and make sure it spreads all across the co-op and that everyone participates.
Every one of us influences the culture wherever we go because people are culture. When we lose an employee, the cultural norm of that person walks out the door – sometimes that’s a good thing, but sometimes we suffer a loss. When we hire someone, our culture changes again. There is nothing that will change workplace culture more than employee turnover, new senior leadership, and tragedy. The better our culture, the more important retaining employees becomes because it can shift in a hurry.
The statement that Bud Branham opened up the meeting with was really important. One of the critical things we would eventually discuss in that meeting was the new leadership commitment requirement for RESAP. In its current state, the senior leader puts on a video that plays for a few minutes and then checks a box that he/she agrees with those principles, and the requirements of the leadership commitment are fulfilled. I’m not sad to see that oversimplified commitment going away.
Beginning in 2024, cooperative GMs/CEOs will be required to demonstrate at a higher level that they are committed to lead their cooperative with safety. And the new process that is currently being developed is intended to help guide our leaders in five areas of safety. It also will require some form of action such as a self-assessment or engaging the cooperative employees in the rationale of their participation in RESAP.
I’ve heard my boss, Doug Miller, say this multiple times and I even heard him say it today: “What leaders SAY matters, and what leaders DON’T SAY matters.” So much wisdom there. And equally important is what employees see their leaders DO and NOT DO. If something is important to the leader and he/she demonstrates that, it automatically becomes important to employees. That can be safety or production or speed of outage restoral. What do you talk about?
There have been several people who have heavily influenced my life in the way that I perceive safety. But I want to give special honor in this SAFELINES edition to the one who has changed my paradigm of safety more than any other person, and that’s Bud Branham of NRECA who sadly announced he would be retiring in June of 2024. I surely have pity on whoever will follow him in that role.
Bud took a room full of old linemen like me who learned linework [unsafely] in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s and patiently taught us what safety was really all about over the last 15 or so years. I’m sure he would probably inwardly roll his eyes meeting after meeting with our ignorant arguments or comments (some of those mine), but he never once outwardly showed it. He relentlessly and methodically tore down our presuppositions and bad ideas while teaching and guiding us toward the right decisions we made in that room – real decisions that would affect the safety programs of most or all cooperatives across the nation. He and Corey Parr of Federated have truly changed the culture in that room.
In addition to helping me become a better person and follower of Christ, Bud made a huge difference in the way I think about safety and, as a result, helped to improve our culture in ˿϶Ƶ. And it’s important to recognize there are families in ˿϶Ƶ and all across cooperative nation who will eat supper as a family tonight or go to their son’s ball game who would have not had a chance to do so without Bud’s influence. And they’ll never know that they would have been a statistic on the Federated electrical contacts chart. And there’s no celebration for something that doesn’t happen, but that’s okay because that’s the life that we sign up for as safety professionals, right? Nothing happens and we smile.
Bud understood how much of a difference that he could make, and his approach was always with great insight and wisdom combined with tireless efforts. He always listened to others, including me even when I got on my high horse a bit. He has been a shining example of servant leadership and Christlikeness, leading in total disregard of self-promotion or recognition for the sake of getting workers back home safely to their families every night. Thank you, Bud, for making such a difference in my life and so many others.
Whose children and wife are counting on you to make a positive difference in your world of safety? The number of hazards our linemen deal with every day are almost innumerable, and the S.A.F.E. Talks we put out every week in ˿϶Ƶ reflect that thought - almost mind-boggling. Do you hold up your part in the safety of your line crews? Is your cooperative a safer place because of your presence? Do you take the time to effectively discuss each weekly S.A.F.E. Talk with your folks?
So, if YOU had a chance to hammer your cooperative into shape (you do) to make it a safer place, what exactly might it look like when you were done hammering? Hammering things into shape is what we call changing culture. And changing culture changes everything.
We have all been given a sphere of influence to make a difference on this earth. Who’s in your sphere and what is your duty of care? Positive influence requires care and care is the single most critical and fundamental element of a high-performing safety program. Let’s all be intentional to make a difference by caring, whatever our role in safety is. And one night, maybe someone will go watch their daughter’s volleyball game because of you. So, keep on hammering because someone’s family is counting on you…they just don’t know to tell you.
Written by Dwight Miller, CLCP, CUSP: Director, Safety Training and Loss Prevention, OEC
Be courageous and say the right thing for the right reason. Never be silent when someone with less of a voice is counting on you and do it even when you pay the price.