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Elevator Safety Absolutes that Save Lives | Ray Downs · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If there are opportunities to improve the process, as written today, the safety committees are all open to that.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how the industry has changed.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Field employees give us feedback on what can happen and what can't happen.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it's a unified effort by everybody to make sure that the end result is go home safely.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we talk to people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome to the show.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much, Matt.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasure to be uh I'm excited to have you.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I've enjoyed every conversation.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to to really dig deeper into your career.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: You've had a uh a very interesting uh career and certainly and and uh very um I guess a lot of a lot of focus on safety.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so we'll get to talk about that today.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um so Ray, how did you get involved with the elevator industry and and where are you working now?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I started my career in the elevator industry while working for General Motors uh back in the late 70s.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I worked for General Motors for 13 years as a labor manager and a safety manager towards the tail end of my career with General Motors.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had an opportunity to take an interview for United Technologies through my mentor in General Motors, Jack Farring.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I took the interview, and United Technologies hired me in their Otis Elevator Division as a regional manager for the Northeast region, encompassing territory from Bangor, Maine to West Virginia.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in my career with Otis, I also had a reassignment, and my territory expanded from Bangor, Maine to Puerto Rico.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was in charge of 67 offices, nine regional offices under safety, and uh that was challenging, so let me tell you the truth.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was an eye-opener on how one end of the state versus the other end of the state uh implements a safety program.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that was rather interesting.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then in 2012, I had an opportunity to join TEI Group.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Mark Gregorio is the CEO and president, and Mike Staub is owner, executive vice president for operations, and John Fashier at the time, who was working with them, who's deceased, and God bless John.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, they had an opportunity uh opening up and they hired me.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And for the last 13 years, I've been working for TEI Group, and TEI Group has given me an opportunity to get a lot of exposure in a different area of the safety uh profession.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I serve on two national safety committees.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm the senior, I was the senior vice president for environmental health and safety for TEI Group, and working with uh an owner that gets it.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Mark gets it.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: He knows that you have to have a safe company to be a profitable company.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Mike gets it.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: He knows that his employees need to be safety trained.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: The investment that we make in TEI on a yearly basis is a really good opportunity to make sure that our field workforce has the best, so they are the best.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm proud of that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm proud of what we did at TEI Group.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you were uh you were already in safety at that point.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Were you doing safety for GM then?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I was.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh uh 5400 uh 5,400 employees, uh 365 uh operation.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was uh it was rather interesting plant in Linda, New Jersey.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: What what was it that led you to get involved in safety from from the get-go?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when I first uh started my career in General Motors uh back in 76, there wasn't really no jobs, and safety wasn't a very big thing.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I had an opportunity to work under a gentleman by the name of Jack Farring, who um was like a mentor to me when I was working in uh General Motors, and he said, Hey, would you like to join the safety department?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was in the I was in production, and from there I went into the safety and labor relations and human resources.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was a labor manager and a safety manager for uh a million square foot plant.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: What was one of the most impactful early experiences that you felt like really shaped your career?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that uh impacted my career uh was when my brother Tommy and I uh talked to my father, who was both of our mentors, I'm sure.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he said one thing that stuck to me, and I still say this today.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Work hard, come to work on time, do a good job, and you'll never be without a job.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I have taken that statement that he said to me when we were kids, and I applied that my entire life.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I worked hard, I came to work on time, and I hope I would have been as successful as I am.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I did a good job in all the companies that I worked for.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't take anything for granted.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, same with my brother, he has a successful law firm, and I think between our whole family, with my younger brother and my sister, we all lived on those principles.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he was a great guy, and uh that's uh was the most impacting comment or statement that he probably said to me in my whole career.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's that's uh advice to to get you through life, right?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you can follow those things, you uh you'll be in good shape.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And Matt, I say the same thing to the young kids that come into uh TEI when I interviewed them for a job.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I said uh the elevator industry has three requirements.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Come to work, work hard, and work safe and on time.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's not too hard to do if you have just a high school education or a GD, uh GED, and you have a great career and make a good living and feed your family.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you you know you talked about getting into to safety at GM and then obviously coming into to Otis as as safety.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I know recently you've helped uh write uh another uh safety manual, I guess, or another edition of a safety manual.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about that uh that manual.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, I was very fortunate to be on uh a very talented team when I worked for Otis Elevator for the first you know 23 years of my career.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we had a task of putting together a safety program back in the early 90s for Otis Elevator, and we did.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: We put the elevator safety handbook together, and that was the basics of what I consider today uh the roadmap to elevator safety.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, as everybody left Otis over the years, they took big bits and pieces from that safety book or that safety manual, and now we have uh almost an industry standard.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when I was working with TEI Group, I was involved with the NAAC and the NAI Safety Committees.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and what we did is we also updated the field employee safety handbook that Elevator World puts out every five years.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we're in the process right now of completing the revived the revision of the employee safety handbook, and we're going to incorporate the nine safety absolutes that are going to be throughout the manual, which is a huge, huge positive for our industry because every company, or at least we're going to try every company doing the same safety programs, uh, not 100%, but at least minimal standards.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I was involved with that with many, many talented people.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just the only one, but those that serve on these committees and those that worked for Otis in the early 90s and 2000s uh 90s and 2000s were instrumental in paving the way and putting the foundation for what we are doing today in the industry.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit more about these safety committees that you're part of.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a member of the NEI Safety Committee who have a dedicated group who look at safety programs and codes and so forth in our industry.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: We meet on a quarterly basis to discuss elevator-related issues.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And also I'm on the NAAC Safety Committee, who also have a number of a dedicated group of people as well, and they look at safety in the nine union and union areas.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Both committees uh have talented uh directors, Amy and Renee, and those that are chair people, chairpersons on each committee.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we get together and we discuss the elevator industry and how we can make it better.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things coming out of, excuse me, both committees uh are the nine safety absolutes that are going to be incorporated into the elevator field employee safety handbook 2025 edition.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm proud to say that I serve on both of these committees with all those talented people over all these years, and I'm sure that uh those committees will be there for many, many years to come and lead our industry in the right direction when it comes to employee health and safety.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, Ray, what are the the nine safety absolutes as you mentioned?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: The nine safety absolutes uh were put together in the early days of Otis, and they were called field fatality prevention assurance or fatality prevention audit processes.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: But in the two safety committees uh that I sit on, uh we decided to label them the nine safety absolutes.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And there are nine topics in order from fall protection is number one, uh electrical safe work practices is number two, um, jumpers policy or jumper policy is number three, and then um number four is lockout tag out, and then five comes into mechanical stored energy.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Six is how do they get on top of an elevator car, and seven is how do you get into an elevator pit.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you come to eight is the moving working platform, which is or a false car, and nine is hoisting and rigging.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Those nine topics.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would think if you took all the injuries that have happened in our industry over all of my 35 years, contribute to 75 to 85 percent of all the injuries.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Our biggest injuries are laceration, sprain, strains, and uh cuts.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh these nine uh also contributed to serious or fatal injuries within our industry over that 35 year period.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and you had said earlier that you know that when you got into your your early career, you know, safety wasn't a big steal.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you you've kind of watched and and and really pushed along, kind of helping safety become to the point where it can be an absolute, it becomes more important, I guess, is what I'm seeing.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in our industry, uh at the beginning, um the industry was still trying to find its way.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: They had safety policies and procedures, they go all the way back to 1949 when they put the safety program together here in New York City for the for the uh the IUEC local number one.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so if you took a look at what they they said back in the night 1949 to what we do today, it's still pretty much the same.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: The verbiage is different and the equipment is different, of course.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the processes changed as the equipment changed, but the concept stayed the same.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to get on top of an elevator car the same way.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you do that?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're in the field and you do it according to how our process is set, you're you're you're safeguarding yourself to do your job safely.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: But if you miss a component, for instance, if you get on top of the car, we have a certain process.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: The door lock is is this can is uh disengaged, the stop switch is tested and verified, and the inspection switches tested and verified all independently from each other before you even start your work.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can do it in that sequence, um your chances of doing your job without getting injured, uh the probability of risk is reduced immensely.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you mentioned that the the uh the the actual you know processes, you know, the what in other words, they knew what you needed to do to be safe, you know, 70 plus years ago.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And yet what what was it, I guess, that kind of lagged behind?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Was it just the culture of of safety and just kind of the everybody getting on board?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was the technology.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the technology way back when we had uh toggle switches on top, now we have sophisticated top of top of car inspection boxes.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh barricades were on top of the car, not the uh the outrigger.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you have now new construction barricades to prevent a fall.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um back then uh there was no jumper policy, so you can jump out circuits without having a jumper policy that says no jumpers left behind, fill out what you're doing, uh circuit to circuit.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: We gave out jumper kits now to our employees.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: We trained them.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: There are fluke meters that they use, that they test and verify, live dead live, uh lock and tag out with uh personal locks and group locks.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these things that I'm telling you about are all part of the nine safety absolutes in detail.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: It goes into detail on every topic.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they didn't have that, I don't believe, way, way back when.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And as we matured in our uh processes and believe it or not, ownerships and companies realizing that we have to work safe in order to do our job, especially in a very inherently dangerous trade, that we have to have some processes.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And now what we have today, I think, are really good processes that many talented individuals, again, uh working, I was working with and alongside of put together.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm very proud of that.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the industry should be as well as the union.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: The union is involved, non-union, doesn't matter if you're a union or non-union company, Matt, you still have to go home to your family.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the like you say, that's the most important thing is getting everybody home safely at the end of the day.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um, what what's your biggest concern about how safety training maybe has been rolled out throughout the industry?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think that the way that we we train our employees today is based on company.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Some have computer-based training where you sit in front of a computer and you can go through modules.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Some have virtual reality headsets.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like we do, we meet quarterly at TEI Group and we bring all of our employees in in a conference room setting, and we have topics, we have guest speakers, including union, non-union uh insurance.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we discuss everything from suicide prevention to our access address.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think the problem that the industry is gonna face going forward is with the new generations coming up, they're learning differently.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um a good example, your iPhone.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's on the iPhone.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can ask AI how to do something, it's gonna tell you.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is that AI response gonna be accurate?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's gleaning the information that's already published on the internet and made available.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's not updated to meet today's standard process of changes, then you're gonna get old processing versus what's current.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I think uh that is gonna be a challenge in our industry.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the trainers, uh the managers are huge, the field managers have to go out and do compliance assessments where they go out and test and verify if the guy if the employees are doing the right thing.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: When they do that, then everything comes together.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you find opportunities for improvement, you change them.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and and if there are opportunities to improve the process, as written today, the safety committees are all open to that, and that's how the the industry has changed.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Field employees give us feedback on what can happen and what can't happen, and it's a it's a unified effort by everybody to make sure that the end result is go home safely.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean there's and like you say, there's there's so many different ways to deliver that uh that training, and and really it just comes down to uh a willingness and a buy-in from management and from employees.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is this is what we're gonna live by.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we're gonna do.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, um Matt, safety training is a huge investment.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: The the OEMs have people in every state to conduct uh a quarterly and daily training uh like we do with the toolbox safety talk.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: It comes out every week, it's a toolbox talk, and it's it's targeted to processes in the field.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everything from fire prevention uh to the nine safety absolutes to false car running working platforms or uh moving working platforms, um chainfalls, hoisting and rigging, how to calculate the weight of the uh the moving platform.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: All of these things are critical for the success of anybody's safety program.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the toolbox talk is one way to reach your your audience, which is your employees, weekly.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now we at TEI have a pretty uh sophisticated toolbox talk that uh our director, Michael Rochi, put together and the toolbox is critical, and it's the content mat of the toolbox, it has to be woven into our industry.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can't, you know, and uh for instance, uh in October you have uh fire awareness.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we do a toolbox talk on you know fire awareness, not just in the field, but also at home.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Drop you know, drop and roll, right?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and there's other toolboxes that we talk about with concerns that are facing our vocations, whether it's in Florida or whether it's in New York City.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the toolbox talk and the quarterly safety training to re-just fresh everybody, because you can get stale, as you know, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing your job, it's a repetitive job.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes what you do is you get complacent.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh all it is is a refresh opportunity so everybody can come in and uh just think about safety a little bit more that day than they were when they started their day.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Which which sectors or segments uh of the industry do you feel like maybe don't get as as consistent or you know as as thorough of uh maybe training as they as they need?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in the field, when you have new construction, uh in today's world, you have general contractors that have safety programs, you have sites site safety training managers on job sites now.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think there's any sector where everyone is constantly getting something about safety on a weekly basis.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the new construction side of the house and the modernization side of the house.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: In New York City, we have to have site safety training cards, OSHA 30.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's a lot of requirements that the general contractors are asking now, Matt, that they've never done in the past that are making the industry safer, not just for elevators, but for everybody for all the trades on their jobs.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh it's a good effort.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you have some general contractors are better at it than others, and uh you can tell as soon as you walk on their jobs.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: If um well, I guess what um what suggestions would you have as this uh like you said, the the new safety manuals coming up, the the new update.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um what suggestions would you have to to help that truly become you know the gold standard?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know ubiquitous throughout the industry?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well uh it's minimal standards.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do the minimal that's coming out in the field.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Employee safety handbook.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: At least you're having a safety program that you can communicate back out to your field.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a supplement to your own program.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is not your, it's not one and all, because OEMs and other companies have their own internal programs.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: I always uh look at the analogy.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care what side what type of safety helmet you wear, just so long as you wear one.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: It could be a black one, could be an orange one, could be a pink one, you know, it doesn't matter, just as long as you wear one.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh and as far as your fall protection uh in new construction and when you have a fall of six foot or higher, uh just make sure you have a body harness, make sure you know how to tie you off, make sure you know when to tie you off, uh when you have lock and tag out.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you stand to the side, turn your head, fill the main line, you say power down.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a helper in the machine room, it says, Hey, power down to confirm it.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're both working on that equipment and the electricity could be uh part of your job, whether it's uh de-energized or it's it's energized, uh you put your personal lock on it and you know that it's uh zero energy by going back into the controller and testing incoming legs, phase one, two, and three.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh you test your meter first, then your let L1, L2, L3 leg, and then you test your meter again.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's called live dead live.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: If everybody's doing that, I mean uh that's all we ask for.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you if you could uh wave your magic wand and make one change to safety throughout the industry, what would you do?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that we're getting close to it.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one program for everybody.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody does the same thing.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: If the OEMs have a better program, or if TEI has a better program, join forces and let everybody have the same program.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I feel so strongly about that is because in our industry, we train players.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have people that work for Otis, Coney, Champion Elevator here in New York, uh Mitsubishi, Fuji Tech, all elevator companies you know, make up your your workforce.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And does it matter if you work for Ray Downs elevator or Jimmy Jones elevator company?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you're doing the same thing and you transfer to my company, there should be a card that says I have the nine safety absolute training and I've had my training, and that card comes with you.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it never goes away, right?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're saying, as soon as you get a new employee, as soon as, you know, and and even when you've got the same employees, you got to teach it consistently over and over and over.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So in our company, uh, when we have a new employee, they go through a day and a half to two-day safety training program before they even get out into the field.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we go through the nine safety absolutes, we go through uh first aid, we go through amputations, we go through hazardous communications, probable harmonized systems, uh, all the things that we're required to by by Department of Labor, but also internally for our industry.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we go through a safety bag that we give, and all the equipment that's in the safety bag, they we go through every item in there and they sign off for all the safety bag equipment because it is an investment on the employer's part, but it's also the tools that they need to work safely.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's a great, great goal.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so last last question I want to ask you is what is the most valuable thing you've learned that you believe could be helpful to the next generation of elevator industry professionals?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think that if more managers on all levels mentored better, give those people the vo your expertise and mentor them and let them be able to see your faults and your strong points, your pros and cons, and let them not make the mistakes.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And same with the field.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you don't have to have a manager and your mentor, you can have your you can have your adjuster, the helper could have his mechanic, the mechanic could have his mechanic in charge or foreman.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and in the office, uh, I know I had a number of really, really good mentors, and I saw how they were successful.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they let the people underneath them do their jobs, and when they had a problem or concern, they would come back to my mentor and I would say, How would you do this or how would you do that?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he would say, Well, did you think about this or did you think about trying it that way?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's always uh solutions to problems.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh another thing, if you have a problem, just don't say the problem.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you come up with a solution?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's right or wrong, at least you're giving the concern an opportunity to be considered what you think would be the solution to the problem.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think mentoring uh is um one of the things that um would help out the industry.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that uh as we move forward in the industry, you're gonna see some changes in our industry in the future that I think are gonna be unbelievable.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the equipment's gonna change.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, when you open up a controller, the controller will have safeguards.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do have to go in and test and verify, it will uh have a plexiglass in front of you where you just push your probes through the plexiglass holes instead of being uh involved with the energized controller.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it won't be zero energy, it will be live and you have to work on live equipment, but it reduces the risk of you coming into the arc flash, okay?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because there's an art flash standard that we have to be compliant to.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm also thinking that uh in the hoistway, uh you may see the hoistways being lit up a lot more.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: So those who are riding the car can see where they're going.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been on a on top of a car in a 50, 60 story building and look down?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see too much.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not, but that's my goal.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: I I I still want to do that sometime.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a and I think um, for instance, the iPhone.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the information that's gonna be made available on the iPhone that we can send out in in blasts, let's say, or Zoom, like we're doing now.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody get on the iPhone for a 15-minute here's what here's what's going on, or we're gonna review this incident that happened, or we're gonna review this new process that happened.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's capable right there in front of them right now.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you're gonna see a lot more of that in the future.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Ray, thank you for being with me today.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your your time and your your expertise for sure.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you very much for having me, man.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to joining you once again.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as I always end all of my my letters that I send out to everybody out there who sees this, be safe and be well, and have a safe year.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Please visit our YouTube channel at ElevatorCareer or check it out online at elevatorcareer.com.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Clickwater.com or comic time.