Producing Confidence
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Producing Confidence
EP 16: Why You Need to Be at Safety Focus
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Safety starts with you.
In this episode of Producing Confidence, Danos Safety Director Issac Dantin and PES VP of HSE Troy Granier break down what Safety Focus is, why it matters and how it strengthens our culture across every division. From serious injury prevention and hazard identification to start-work planning and field-level communication, they share how this once-a-year event turns conversation into action.
Join us Tuesday, March 3 at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center—and be part of the dialogue that keeps our people safe and our operations strong.
Welcome And Why Safety Focus Matters
SPEAKER_00Hello everyone, welcome to Producing Confidence. I'm your host, Samantha McGee, and today we are talking about safety focus. So safety is a Danos value, and once a year we bring that commitment into sharper focus through our annual safety focus events. This year's event takes place on Tuesday, March 3rd. Joining me today are two leaders who help turn that mindset into action every day. Isaac Dante, Danos Safety Director, and Shora Granier, Vice President of HSE at Performance Energy Services. Together, they bring years of field and operational experience and play key roles in shaping safety focus across our organization. It's a pleasure to have both of you joining us in the studio today. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, glad to be here.
SPEAKER_00Hi. Glad to have you. So tell me about the safety focus event and why people should be excited about it.
SPEAKER_02Uh you know, we've been doing safety focus events for quite some time now. Uh when I started with Dan Oss back in the 90s, we had safety focus events and they were put on uh and and I'm not gonna say that we didn't do it in a great way, but I just remember it not being very interactive. So when when I came on uh in safety, I wanted to make sure that it was creative and that it was engaging, but that people left with something of value. They put, you know, as Mike Gidry likes to say, they put a gold nugget in their pocket and it left with something. So that's what excites me about it. It's an opportunity to come in front of our employees, to meet them face to face, but they also have an opportunity to see Mr. Hank and Paul, Eric, and and Mark, and engage with managers across different division lines and um also their peers, you know, that they might work on different platforms or wherever the case might be. But we also have a big group of customers. And so it if you put everybody collectively together and you give them an opportunity to uh to speak and us to listen, it's really good, it's refreshing, it's new, and it's just it's evergreen as well, it's always growing.
Making Safety Events Interactive And Useful
SPEAKER_00So you put a lot of work into designing the event to be engaging, like you said, instead of feeling like a safety lecture where you're playing tic-tac-toe. Tell me more about the thought process that goes into all that planning.
SPEAKER_02Well, we have a good team. Um, you know, last year we we joined up uh PES and and DOS collectively. We decided we were gonna put this on together. We pulled in our different divisions and leaders, and we had a really good session. We had breakout sessions with the employees. You know, it was it was important for us to show that we're unified in safety, and that's one of the things I think that Danos is very good at. We're not only leading in safety within our community, but uh with our customers and even our competitors. So when we when we put on a safety focus forum, uh the value is really uh employee-driven, focused, uh an opportunity again to hear uh from them.
SPEAKER_01This is my third year attending, and each time you take something else away from it that you you didn't think about before. And it's always been fun, uh, even when I think about some of the activities that we we've done as a team, you know, building the pipeline and and the little breaker, and you see people kind of getting excited about it. It's it's always fun, but there's always a message behind it that really um, like you said, that nugget that you can take home. So uh it's it's exciting and it's a good time to get people together. You know, when you commit to something like this with the amount of energy that goes into it, where our supervisors, our field employees get to come and see exactly what we talk about every day. We're backing it up with this safety focus. So it's it's it's always a good time, and and it's it's something that people can take a lot away from. So uh it's it's very exciting.
SPEAKER_00And you talk about you know messaging. I know each year we have a safety slogan uh with Dan Oz. Do you want to tell me what that safety slogan is, where we got it?
Unified Planning With PES And Breakouts
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, this year it's it's special because the last couple years it was staff employees who submitted the winning uh safety slogans. This year we have a field employee who submitted a fantastic slogan. Uh his name is Kylan Barton. He's a BP operator. Um he was awarded 500 gold points uh for sending in the winning safety slogan, which is purpose-driven people, safety-focused operations. I thought it was fantastic. We look for things that are keywords within those slogans. First of all, purpose, right off the bat. I mean, our Dano's purpose is extremely important to us. So we're purpose-driven people. And he saw enough to say that our purpose is something that means a lot to him, which it means a lot to all of us. So purpose-driven people and then safety-focused operations. I love how he used that because safety-focused operations means that we're really, really dialing in to the things that matter when it comes to safety. And uh, we're surrounding our whole theme around this focus idea, which is our safety focus. Uh, but this year, using his slogan, we have purchased binoculars for all of our employees that attend the safety focus, just kind of like a play on the words, but also making sure that some of our slides understand or portray the blurriness of what's out there and how we can really zoom in and see the end result of what needs to transpire. So the whole safety focus forum will be wrapped around that uh that initiative and safety slogan.
SPEAKER_00So you mentioned the focus theme that's taking place this year. How is this year's safety focus event different besides that, you know, the focus theme?
SPEAKER_02Well, uh this year, you know, actually it's always building upon the the year before. We talk about the initiatives, the things that really matter right now. The way we're doing it this year is we have really four main sessions uh where my session at the beginning is gonna be uh about SIFs, thinking about serious injuries, fatalities, things that can really kill people. And then as soon as I finish, Mike Gidry is going to be speaking uh about the smaller things, you know, the routine tasks, complacency, the small stuff. It might not kill you, but that it still means that people are going home differently. They're they're changed. It might be a finger injury, uh, you know, which we've had issues with. Recently, we had a customer uh who unfortunately was one day away from 700 days without an OSHA recordable, and they had one finger injury that ruined that. Now, there's a lot that we that we can learn about the small things as as well as the big things. And then uh Troy and Dirk will be tackling a couple different topics right after.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we'll be focusing on has ID. Um, you know, part part of both our teams and what we do at the work site, you have to identify what are the hazards that have that potential to kill you, right? And the the goal of uh identifying those hazards is putting enough controls in place to where um our our crews can can be safe and and work and and go home safely to their families, as we always talk about. But you know, he he he talked about you know human performance in in the past and uh how we how we build upon the safety at the job site and making sure that our employees truly understand what puts them at risk and what has the potential for them not to go home and what are we doing about it? And is that enough or do we need more? Um so we talk about that a lot. Uh we'll be talking about you know, has ID, start work checks, and then uh Dirk, who's our vice president of uh operations, he'll come out and um he'll be talking about work planning uh and how can we how can we really focus on um you know getting people in our bucket and communicating uh and and executing our work with safety at the forefront.
SPEAKER_00So how does um the safety focus, how does it implety focus empower employees to take ownership of safety and to take that into their own hands?
The Winning Slogan And Focus Theme
SPEAKER_01You know, safety focus just recommits to our employees what we talk about throughout the year, and and that safety is the utmost importance. Everyone's personal safety, the crew safety, as they're out there working, you know, uh client safety, you know, executing our projects and delivering on, you know, those promises that we made when we started the work. Um so, you know, that recommitment there with with employees, we're basically continuing to talk about all the things that we do every day and why it's important. And maybe they're taking home just a little bit something extra that they didn't know before so they can bring it back to the job site. It's it's always great, like I said before, you know, you learn a little bit every time you sit in one of these safety focuses. And if if there's any nuggets that they can take back to the work site, it really helps throughout the year. And then it also builds relationships. So when they see coworkers or they see us, and then we have to talk to them at a job site. Well, it's it's something that we can talk about and relate to, and it it just helps continue to build those relationships and then drive what's most important to us all, right? And that's that's our people, and that they they get to go home safely at the end of the day back to their families.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we have to give them an opportunity to be able to speak and for us to listen. So we we try to be as interactive as we possibly can, not just putting up PowerPoints and you know killing them with uh just data, but really a bigger opportunity to listen. So when we ask a question, we want them engaged, we want them responding, and then once that first person responds, then other hands go up and then other people respond. And so we we get good feedback from the guys and we ask them and we set the stage to say, you're pretty much in a safe space. We want to hear what's reality, what's the truth, what do you really know that you're not telling us? And they end up telling us, which is really good. This year is gonna be a little different in that regard. Uh, for instance, my presentation is gonna be just interactive. I don't know if I'm gonna develop one slide. If I do, it might just be the face of the topic. Uh but where we're gonna create an opportunity for the employees to really dive in deep to things that can affect them, that can hurt their co-workers, and we're gonna have action items assigned. So when an employee is asked a serious question about safety and they raise up their hand and they give us an answer, we're gonna ask the audience who is gonna take responsibility and accountability to actually drive this through fruition. In other words, they're gonna present to us an issue, we're gonna give them a solution. And we're gonna not only give them a solution, but we're gonna have a timeline to where that's gonna be completed. Uh, and so we're looking for engagement on both sides of the spectrum, from the field employee to the manager uh here in the office that can actually make sure that their voice is heard, action is taken, and then change takes place.
SPEAKER_00I love that. And I think Troy, you mentioned, you know, getting to interact with the employees that, you know, we we don't get to see them all the time. They're out on the job side, they're at the customer location, and so it's really, I think, a special thing to have them come interact and you know, really get to meet, get to know coworkers, because they are our coworkers. We just don't see them every day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's it's sometimes you you see them, but then it's a long period of time before you get to see them again. So it's good to to see familiar faces and see how they're doing, uh, how things are going at the work site, how's their families, um, you know, kids growing up, and and that's what it's all about, you know. Um so it's it's always a good time when you get to to see those folks again.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So we have, as we mentioned, our employees come. Who else comes to this event?
Four Core Sessions: SIFs To Small Stuff
SPEAKER_02So we have plenty of vendors that we invite to these events. Uh Sam, you you do a great job in helping us in that regard. And so we have, you know, a huge lobby full of uh different vendors, business partners. Uh, you know, we have a company coming in this year called Sika, uh, who is a vision company. They do vision tests. So that's another play on our whole uh purpose uh in this safety focus of focusing in. So they'll they'll be doing that. Uh every year we have uh new guests that'll come in. Uh but we have you know uh equipment suppliers, we have uh training suppliers, we have we have different people coming in to do uh great things. So our employees can ask questions, they could go around to the booths, but we also have uh plenty of our internal um you know providers, uh HR, uh IT. Uh we have different divisions that are that'll be available so that if anyone has any questions, they can go and ask directly. Hey, my training is a little walkers, so they can go and talk to a training person and try to figure out what's going on or IT solution. So we have our whole team out in front so that our employees have a great opportunity to be engaged. And like you said, uh, you know, often they might talk to someone on the phone, but they never see them. So they get to meet the employees face to face, and I think that brings a lot of value.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and our our customers will be there as well, and it's it's kind of funny because they've been before and they start asking, hey, when when's safety focus? Because they get excited around it. So they it it's information that they can take back and share as well, and it just continues to drive our purpose and values.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and uh, you know, one of the compliments is that our customers not only really engage in the day, but they try to mirror what we do. And often they'll ask us to participate in their focus forums, and so we try to bring our energy to them, and uh, you know, we open up the doors for all of them to come and we have great attendance from our customers. We've had keynote speakers from some of our customers that came in before, uh, and we'll do that in the future. Uh, we won't have any this time, but they'll be there and they'll be able to participate at the tables with our employees. So we don't segregate everyone, we ask everybody to get involved. As a matter of fact, you you'll probably very seldomly see a couple of staff people sitting at the same table. We get injected into our our audience so that everybody can participate at an even level.
SPEAKER_00Great. What are you most excited about? Cubics pies.
Hazard ID, Start Work Checks, Work Planning
SPEAKER_02That's a good question. That is a good question. I enjoyed a safety focus so much. You know, I like the engagement. I like the opportunity to ask questions and and to get some real answers. I have to say the the foundation is a real uh big part that I enjoy. Uh when the foundation speaks about what we do out in the community, you know. The Danos Foundation. The Danos Foundation, yeah. Uh really, you know, fulfilling our purpose, you know. Um so I believe our purpose is fulfilled in the Safety Focus Forum, you know, honoring God, uh, which starts off the whole thing. We have a prayer breakfast this year at 7 o'clock with Paul Danos. He'll be doing a devotional. Developing great people is what the safety focus is all about, you know, solving the challenges for our customers and our communities. So all of that has place in the safety focus forum. And you know, it's not even like we strategically try to make sure that it's injected in there. It's it's part of who we are and what we do. And this is just one of the best forums I think we have to be able to showcase truly who we are. Uh it's never fake, it's never false or phony. It's just it's the Danos way.
SPEAKER_01I think the uh activities that we do every year get people excited. It's fun to look around the room and see people engaged in teams and trying to compete, right? And then you you'll you'll see Mr. Hank get involved and and you know, guys running around the room trying to figure out how to make things work. That's always an exciting time as well. And I look forward to that because it's it's a good time to see them engaged and they're having fun. Um, and that's truly what it's about.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. And look, the food doesn't hurt either. True. I mean, the food has been spot on. 360 catering does a fantastic job.
SPEAKER_00Uh breakfast and lunch provided.
SPEAKER_02Breakfast and lunch provided, and it's um, you know, it's just a great menu with different options, of course, a lot of seafood um as well. So our employees really enjoy that. We get feedback, and so yeah, that's that's good. And usually there's some sort of a dessert uh to follow.
SPEAKER_01So the music's always good too, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Casey, Casey does a fantastic job of uh really hyping up uh the safety focus forums and getting music. And look, it takes a lot of people to put on an event like this. Uh, you guys, very involved. Uh, marketing does a fantastic job of really showcasing who we are and what we do. Um, there's so many people that touch. If we talked about just those people, you know, it would it would take us the whole podcast. And then of course we have the breakout sessions after. You know, in the breakout sessions, a second part of uh the Safety Focus Forum is led by our uh our different divisions. PES has a separate breakout session, production services has their own breakout session, and if i2MS that separates themselves and energy systems uh separates themselves, and then they get into the nitty-gritty and they really get personal within their work groups, and uh that's another really big part of the focus forum.
SPEAKER_00So if someone is considering whether or not they should attend, what would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01Attend.
SPEAKER_00Easy enough.
SPEAKER_01Easy enough. No, it's it's a really good time. Um and it's it's a chance again to to uh meet up with your co-workers and you know, leadership alike and and just spend the day with them. And it's not often you get that opportunity. You know, we see each other a lot in passing or at crew changes or it's a client meeting. Uh, you know, it's it's always something this this is dedicated to us, right, and and to our team. So hopefully they they come if they have the opportunity. We understand a lot of folks are out working, both uh are very busy at the moment. If they're available and they can make it, it's it's a great time and and they won't be disappointed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's competing obstacles. I mean, they they have their workloads, they have their families. We do pay them, you know, to come to the safety focus. So they are incentivized to be there, but there's nothing better than being able to go walk to Mr. Hank, uh Dan Oss and shake his hand and say, you know what, I'm at the honor, you know, today, or Paul or Mark or Eric, you know, guys that that they don't get to see too often. And I want to just say that they love that too. The Dan Os just love being engaging, and this is a really big thing for them. So just know it it's not just something that we put on, this is something that people really are passionate about, and it starts all the way at the top.
SPEAKER_00Is there a message that you hope people walk away with from the day? Or is it just a couple different nuggets, as you said?
Empowering Employees And Shared Accountability
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in reality, you know, given one little shift in safety, you're looking at the difference of an injury or a fatality. I believe the oil and gas industry is a very safe culture. I really believe that we have great safeguards in place to protect our people, but anything can happen. And we need to continue to educate each other. Uh, we need to continue to to train and we need to continue to talk about safety. Uh, but we also need the reality checks just to say, you know what, at any given moment something really bad can happen. If if I let off the gas, my coworker could not be the same after. So there's a seriousness to our safety focus forum, and that's why we're really focusing in on the SIFs, the things that can really cause damage. And you know what, as a as a company, we have done fantastic collectively together. PES and and Danos operation services are we've had the best TRIR the company has ever had in the history of the company. We're we're at a 0.07.
SPEAKER_00Congratulations, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02It is amazing. And the industry is over 1.0 if you think about that. Our best record was a 0.11, and it's been hard to attain that. And you know, we have two-finger recordables in 2025 that that caused that TRIR. But we we haven't had the major uh incidents, but that doesn't mean that the risk is not out there and we need to do everything we can. This is just one of the steps to give an opportunity to hear from our guys again so that we can learn what's reality, so that we can help them get in the bucket with them, so that we can passionately pursue uh these things that can cause a lot of damage.
SPEAKER_01That's right. The the hazards that cause a minor finger injury are very different from things that cause life-threatening or fatal events, right? So the focus on how can we better identify those high-level hazards and and make sure we have adequate controls in place before they go to work is critical. Those conversations that we have with with the guys and and the feedback that we get helps us to develop more gainful conversation with the employees and in our weekly meetings and client meetings and and what can we deliver at the job site. So, you know, you hope from any type of safety conference or meeting that they they take something away from it. If they don't, then did we really do a good job, right? The the goal here is that we prep enough and we get it together enough to where those guys can actually take something valuable away and bring it back to the work site because that's where it really makes a difference. Uh and talking about these SIF style hazards and making sure that we have good controls and how do we identify deviations is really critical in our industry. As Isaac said, when you look at our TRIRs and how we've performed statistically over the last year, it's it's incredible that we were able to do that. And it's it's not without those folks that are on the job site giving them the fuel that they need to continue to be successful, is is a part of why we do what we do. So it's exciting there.
SPEAKER_00Great. Any final thoughts?
Community, Vendors, And Customer Engagement
SPEAKER_02I think what's most important is the message gets out that we need our employees here. If our employees are not here, then we can't hear them. And so we need them here. It's critical that they attend. And I hope that they see the value in not attending but participating. And if they can come and participate, then they can bring change. We want to hear. Hear from our people so that we can collectively discuss, talk, plan, and provide change. We want to listen. We want to be a company that's always learning. And the best way to learn is if we listen. And the best way to listen is if our employees are here. So those that are competing with different things, we understand it's a challenge. But if our employees can be here, we need them here. And I'm hoping that our staff does a really good job at communicating that out. I know we started that, but at the end of the day, the biggest value is going to be getting people here so that we can listen to them.
SPEAKER_01Continue improvement. Right? That's that's the ultimate goal that we continue to learn and get better every day. And their engagement only helps us to get better. So having them present, having them engaged, having them giving us feedback and have those conversations really helps drive how we how we can work that continue improvement into our overall programs and make sure that we're giving them the tools to be successful at the work site.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you both for joining us today. I know a lot of work goes into the safety focus events, but I think it's well worth it. It's really engaging, enjoyable, fun day. And I think the results speak for themselves with the record low T R I R. And also I think the safety focus events really just leads into the Dano's purpose to honor God and develop great people to solve big challenges for our customers in our community. So we hope you can join us. Thanks again, guys.
