Posted:
March 25, 2008
By Randy Osborn
As I sit here on this morning and write this letter to you I am thinking about the great weekend of family and a celebration of spring I just enjoyed. I believe this is a very appropriate time for this letter.
I hope you are aware of the recent fatalities, and severe injuries of Local 1245 members. We have been lucky, very lucky, at Sierra Pacific with no fatalities, but we have had severe injuries. I want to talk today about a couple issues I see as a contribution to our injuries at Sierra Pacific and the fatalities and injuries of our Brothers and Sisters at other utilities.
Our industry, for several years, has fallen down in the preparation for retirement of our members by failing to bring the next generation along as apprentices. We are just now, in the last few years starting on a track to correct that. We are way behind, as I am sure you know, and this has resulted in a significant gap between highly qualified Journeymen, most of which have or may retire in the next few years, and new Journeymen. Now we are faced with the task of training a new work force at a pace we have never seen before. We are turning out classes of apprentices to Journey status and giving them an apprentice the next day. It is no secret it takes several years for a new Journeyman to be at the top of his game. All of this is resulting in training shortfalls.
It is now up to us, Company and Union, to make this work, as we have no other choice. What you can do as employees and members is to focus on safety every minute of every day. Whether you are a Foreman, Journeyman or Apprentice your mind needs to be in the game. You must understand what you are doing and why you are doing it in each task you perform. If for any reason you are in doubt stop and find the answer. If there is no standard procedure for the task at hand stop and find out the correct way to perform it and get with your Supervisor to create a safe procedure. We need to be vigilant in our tailboards to assure everyone is on the same page.
I do believe this is going to take a significant commitment by the Company to step up their training and a significant commitment by the employees to push for and perform safely.
The second thing I wanted to discuss in this letter is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). No, PPE does not prevent accidents; it does however reduce the fatalities and injuries. It is every employees (MPAT and BU) responsibility to know what PPE is required for the task being performed and to use it. PPE was created out of the blood and bone of our industry. PPE was not just an idea that was implemented. We have PPE today because someone was injured or killed without it.
There are three recent incidents with Local 1245 members of which serious injuries resulted. Proper PPE would have rendered them minor.
If you are not sure what PPE is required, ask. If you are not sure the PPE provided is correct for the task, stop the job and find out.
It should ultimately be everybody’s first priority to work safely and to help to assure the safety of others.
Back to the note I started this letter with, I hope you enjoyed your Easter weekend with your family. Because you have worked safely, you are alive and uninjured so you could.
Randy Osborn is a Local 1245
Business Representative in Nevada.