As utility arborists, how many times a day do we observe, or are part of, actions that we ASSUME are being performed safely or with safety top of mind?
To put it another way - How many actions or activities do we participate in where we don’t have proof that we are safe?
The term "assume” is defined as "supposed to be the case, without proof." ...
I am proud to recognize that the Division 10 transmission team was able to complete a very successful 2018 by going the entirety of the year without an OSHA recordable injury. They were also able to complete all their regularly scheduled maintenance cycle work on time with fewer than five reworks, the Annual Inspection Program (AIP) ahead of...
Safety is often defined and measured more by its absence than by its presence. — James Reason (2000)
Imagine trying to drive a car by only looking in the rearview mirror.
Traditional safety spends a lot of effort looking backward and counting and analyzing incidents. Traditional safety is defined by the actions to avoid. All the good work –...
Did you know that Lewis Tree Service has been a proud member of ISNetworld since April 25, 2008? We celebrated our ten year anniversary last year.
Our first operating principle (or core value) is “responsible” and when I hear the word responsible, ownership immediately comes to mind. Responsibility is an obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion.
In mid-March, Lewis Tree Service and our Duke Energy partners held a two-day training session for all Lewis utility line clearance employees working on Duke Energy Transmission in the Coastal area of Florida.
Last summer, in Region 1, we began a deep-dive on the trending reports and leading indicators that we collect on our Safety Feedback forms. One of the things that we identified immediately was that some leaders were very good at identifying and documenting at-risk behaviors, and working with their craft workers to mitigate hazards, while others...
As you know, we’ve all been tasked with achieving a goal of zero lost-time incidents. I believe that how we communicate can take us to zero. Right now, say you are in a meeting in Dallas. At this very moment, what are you doing to keep your vegetation management crews safe? Nothing. That’s why we need to continue to push the message down. And...
During the Lewis two-day, leadership team meeting in Rochester last October, we had an impactful speaker, Dale Lesinski, share a message about “Safety 4 the Right Reasons.” He asked us to close our eyes and think about the four people who we love the most in this world and to whom we never want anything bad to happen. Visualize those friends...
I hope that those of you who were on our Monday morning safety call remember and have been reflecting on the question that I posed: How will we set ourselves up for success this week?
As always, let’s learn from the past but not dwell upon it. Let’s spend less time talking about what happened during incidents and more time on understanding why....
