Page 10 - Tennessee

A Few Minutes
Marcus Bartholomew
TN811 Damage Prevention Liaison
It is always interesting to get
an inside look at the safety culture of a workplace and
how they implement safety practices at various levels within their organization. Nothing highlights this more than when I attended my first quarterly Damage Prevention Committee (DPC) meeting hosted by a gas company in my region.
If you are not familiar with the Tennessee Damage Prevention Committee, their mission is to protect underground utilities by discussion, evaluation, and dissemination of damage data, Common Ground Alliance best practices and concerns of all stakeholders in Tennessee. The DPC also helps direct education and awareness efforts of the Tennessee One Call System.
A wide variety of topics are discussed: industry events, regulations and legislation, Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act complaints, violation trends and statewide statistics regarding utility damage. There are also collaboration and networking opportunities between meeting attendees and open discussion about issues facing excavators, locators, and utilities.
At this meeting, we had close to thirty people attend in person and about as many participants online attending virtually. As we started the meeting, our host from the gas company welcomed everyone and announced he would conduct a safety briefing.
Safety briefing? I smiled and looked around the room to see how others reacted to his joke. A safety briefing. For a meeting. Inside a building. That is a good one!
But he was not joking. In my last career spanning almost 30 years working in public safety, I have had my share of briefings, safety briefings and debriefings. Critical incidents, hazardous material response, warrant services, high-risk operational plans, executive protection details, natural disasters, evacuations, major incident scenes and any situation where violence might be encountered... But I have never, ever, had a safety briefing for a meeting!
As I listened to our host go through a comprehensive list of issues and
assign attendees specific tasks for any number of potential incidents, it all made perfect sense. Most of us were in a building we had never been in before or had not spent enough time in to know where all exits and specific hazards were located if we had to evacuate during a fire or other emergency. What if a weather incident knocked out power or communications? What if there
were an active shooter in the building? What if one of the attendees suffered
a medical emergency? Let us also not forget we were at a GAS company!
Besides the presence of natural gas,
to what other chemicals or substances could we be exposed should something go wrong? Who would respond and how? What should we expect?
It really hit home when our host (knowing my background and
training) assigned me to be responsible for providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to anyone in the meeting should the need arise. Someone else was assigned to notify 9-1-1 and another person would respond to the hallway and be responsible for getting the automated external defibrillator (AED) and bringing it back to the meeting room.
Was I impressed? Yes. If the safety culture of this utility was this detailed and so ingrained in everyday operations that they incorporated it into something as simple as a meeting between people in a room, I would have to assume
that there is also a high level of safety protocol and safe work practices carrying over into their field operations.
Does your organization practice safety at every level from office to field? Do you train for common scenarios that your employees might find themselves in and give them the tools and resources to mitigate those hazards regardless
of location? Is everyone empowered to take a role and know how to act or perform in multiple roles effectively if needed?
Apart from everything else I learned at our meeting, I came to the realization that you can incorporate a safety component into any operation, anywhere and at any time - and it only takes a few minutes!
Be Safe Out There.
8 • Tennessee811
2024, Issue 1