HazTek Employee Programs Advisor Ray Stupienski joins Chris Bellina for a special Q and A episode of our podcast.

Since the launch of this podcast in June 2023, our listeners have been emailing safety questions to our email (podcast@haztekinc.com). On today’s episode, Ray Stupienski answers these important questions for the audience. The questions range from how to get started in the safety industry to what the best certifications are to obtain as a safety professional. 

Ray’s years of experience in the safety industry make him a wealth of knowledge on this topic. He answers each question thoughtfully, adding in stories from his experiences in the field and at home. Whether you’ve been listening from the beginning or are a new listener, this episode is one you’ll be eager to share with fellow safety professionals.  

James Beasley, HazTek Senior Safety Manager, discusses a topic he calls “embracing the premortem” on construction sites. James coined this term because having effective pre-task planning and job hazard analyses prevents accidents and injuries — so there no longer needs to be an investigation after the fact on what went wrong. He goes into detail on what a job hazard analysis (JHA) is and the proper steps to take when performing this technique. James also offers tips for safety professionals on how to keep teams engaged and interested in safety best practices.

Additionally, James, Chris, and Matt discuss challenges that safety professionals face during pre-task planning meetings — the main challenge being creating buy in from all levels of the organization. James has years of experience in the safety industry and has learned many valuable best practices that he shares with our audience, making this an incredibly insightful episode. 

Herb Strong, HazTek’s Client Services Manager (and former OSHA compliance officer), joins Chris and Matt again for a very important discussion on preventing slips, trips, and falls on construction sites. Herb informs our audience of the alarming statistics of these types of incidents that occur on project sites. He explains the factors that lead to slips, trips, and falls and offers tips for preventing these types of accidents on construction sites.

Herb has been working at HazTek for 12 years and has over 50 years of experience in safety. Before working with us, Herb was the Principal Owner of Strong Consulting services as well as an OSHA compliance officer. From his years of experience managing safety, he has seen many injuries caused by slips, trips, and falls — and has prevented many as well — making this an episode you won’t want to miss.

Kelly Feldkamp, owner of ProVention Plus LLC and certified massage therapist, discusses with Chris Bellina and Matt Clark how construction workers, and those working on sites, can take care of their bodies. She explains how she uses touch therapy on construction sites to help workers stay injury free throughout their workday. 

Kelly also talks about holistic health, and the steps workers can follow to help keep them healthy on and off the job. She explains that even if workers are following proper safety protocols and staying active at work, they can still be at risk for injury. Getting the right amount of sleep, eating nutritious meals, and stretching daily are all vital in keeping bodies working properly.

Kelly’s company, ProVention Plus, specializes in injury prevention on construction sites to help workers stay injury free and healthy. Her team comes onto construction sites and offers one-on-one sessions for workers. She has years of experience in this industry and a passion for keeping workers in their best shape — making this episode engaging and extremely informative.

Ironworker and Executive Director of Apprenticeship and Training for Ironworkers International Lee Worley discusses with Chris and Matt the ironworker training process. Lee explains what his position entails and how IMPACT— Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust — helps the apprentices manage the training program and become the best worker possible. 

Lee goes into detail about what his training process looked like when he was starting as an ironworker versus how the training is operated today, as well as the differences between various craft training programs across the U.S. He educates our listeners about the benefits of going into the crafts — including avoiding student debt. Lee and Matt — who has an ironworker background — trade stories about their experiences in the industry and how they have seen it evolve over time. 

Lee has 38 years of experience as an ironworker and shares valuable advice for anyone looking to get into this field or transition out of it. His passion for training comes across, making this a must-listen episode. 

Code Red Safety’s Vice President of Product Development, Bart Peetermans, discusses an innovative confined space rescue technology that he invented and patented in 2000. This type of technology is now replicated as the norm for the refinery, chemical, and petrochemical industries. Bart explains the many benefits of using this confined space technology in order to make projects safer — including cameras, gas detection systems, a monitoring system for clients, and an intercom system.

In addition, Bart examines the challenges that he and his team went through by using this new technology, as well as the roadblocks experienced when bringing the technology from Europe to the U.S. Bart also speaks with Matt and Chris about the new safety innovations that he is working on at Code Red Safety. 

Bart has decades of experience in the safety technology industry and has worked all over Europe before bringing his technologies to the U.S. Before working for Code Red Safety, he owned Z-Safety Systems, which created, operated, and sold patented innovative safety solutions to the make the Petro-Chemical industry a safer place to work. 

During the episode, Kris Corbett, Director at Atlas Injury Prevention, discusses how to manage mental health as a construction worker — a vital issue as the suicide rates in this industry are extremely high. She informs our listeners that 16% of construction workers feel some sort of anxiety and depression and that 1 in 5 Americans live with a mental illness. Kris, Matt, and Chris talk about potential factors that contribute to these alarmingly high statistics.

Kris also provides strategies for managing stress, anxiety, and depression. Some of these strategies include connecting with coworkers when they seem off and remembering to breathe deeply when feeling stressed or overwhelmed. She also gives an example of what she does to relax, which she calls the “rule of five.”

Kris has over 20 years of experience working in Wellness, Safety, and Injury Prevention, creating innovative and effective products and services for various companies. She is a nationally recognized speaker and has been featured at the National Ergonomic Conference, National Constructor Conference, ASSE National Conference, and CURT National Conference. Kris is not a mental health professional, nor does she consider herself an expert. If you need to reach out to a mental health professional or are looking for additional resources to help your mental health, visit: https://www.osha.gov/workplace-stress/outreach-materials

Lance Simons, Vice President of Safety & Quality for the Haskell Company, joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark on Episode 16. During the discussion, Lance educates our listeners on effective safety metric systems. He explains that there are two sets of numbers that companies use when tracking safety metrics — OSHA recordable incidents and a safety metric system from the client’s vantage point. 

Lance goes on to clarify that the OSHA recordable incident data can be skewed since it exclusively includes data from the individual company without considering other companies working on the project. Due to this, the data may show that no safety incidents have happened on these construction sites when that is most likely not the case. By using a safety metric system from the client’s vantage point — which includes data from every subcontractor and employee working on the site — the client receives an accurate report of their overall site safety. For anyone interested in implementing this safety metric system, Lance provides advice for getting started.

Lance also discusses how being transparent about safety is so important. When companies are completely forthcoming about their safety issues, their employees feel comfortable to come forward with any safety concerns. This is a very educational episode that our listeners won’t want to miss. 

During this very informative episode, Herb Strong, HazTek’s Client Services Manager (and former OSHA compliance officer), discusses the steps that safety professionals should take when preparing for an OSHA inspection. He goes over the various types of OSHA violations — de minimus, other-than-serious, serious, and willful — and what companies can do to avoid these violations.

Herb has been working at HazTek for 12 years and has over 50 years of experience in safety. Before working with us, Herb was the Principal Owner of Strong Consulting services as well as an OSHA compliance officer — making him an expert on this episode’s topic.  

Because of Herb’s prior experience as an OSHA compliance officer, he offers our audience inside information on best practices when going through an OSHA inspection. He recommends that safety professionals keep all safety records readily accessible and to take advantage of any safety trainings that are available. Herb also explains why it’s beneficial to always follow OSHA and site safety regulations — not just during OSHA inspections. 

Steven Rank, Executive Director of Safety & Health for the Ironworkers International, joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark on Episode 14. Steven has years of experience as an ironworker and is a member of Iron Workers Local #10 in Kansas City, Missouri. During the episode, Steven discusses the difference between safety standards vs. safety compliance directives. He explains that safety standards are written laws while safety compliance directives are letters about how to interpret these laws. He warns safety professionals to use caution when receiving these letters since they are not legally binding — and the interpretation can be wrong — causing safety issues that can lead to accidents.

Steven shares firsthand accounts of issues that he and his team encountered after receiving safety compliance directives. Steven also talks with Matt and Chris about strategies that safety professionals can utilize when they receive safety compliance directives that do not follow safety standards. Steven encourages everyone to always follow the safety standard — and offers tips on how to do so when a supervisor or member of leadership wants to use the compliance directive instead. 

Patti Rubnitz, HazTek’s Senior Corporate Recruiter, joins Chris Bellina on Episode 13. During the episode, Patti discusses current HazTek career opportunities in the northeast region, the greater Virginia area, and the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. She explains what these open positions entail and what the requirements are for obtaining these jobs.

Patti and Chris also highlight the many advantages of working with HazTek, including great pay, job stability, medical, dental, and prescription benefits, company 401K matching, growth opportunities, travel opportunities, and many more. Patti encourages anyone interested in a career in safety to reach out to her (prubnitz@haztekinc.com) or visit HazTek’s career page to see all of our current openings: https://careers.haztekinc.com 

Patti has been working at HazTek since 2011. In her role as Senior Corporate Recruiter, she seeks out talented safety and corporate professionals to join our growing team — which now consists of over 300 employees. She has a background in human resources, management, and workplace safety, with over 25 years of combined experience.

David Myrick, Senior Director of Field Strategy & EHS for Cooper Electrical Construction Company joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark on the latest episode of our podcast. David has worked for Cooper Electrical for 10 years and started at the company as the Senior Director for Corporate Safety before transitioning to his current role in May of 2022. During this episode, David discusses the skilled worker shortage in the construction industry and offers his thoughts on when this shortage started and the reasons behind it. He provides strategies for remedying this issue — including giving workers who are not as experienced the chance to learn from veteran employees. 

David also talks with Chris and Matt about the generational differences in the workforce and how each generation values working. This episode is a valuable listen for people at all levels in the construction and safety industries to David’s extensive experience in these fields.

During the episode, Kris and our team talk about the correlation between workplace injuries and emotional well-being. If workers are not feeling their best, they will not work at their best — leaving them at risk for getting hurt. Additionally, Kris offers tips that everyone can follow to stay proactive against workplace injuries. She also discusses how workers can prevent on-the-job injuries and how construction workers should think of themselves as “industrial athletes.” She explains how athletes would never play a sport without stretching and hydrating before a game and neither should construction workers.

Kris has over 20 years of experience working in Wellness, Safety, and Injury Prevention creating innovative and effective products and services for various companies. She is a nationally recognized speaker and has been featured at the National Ergonomic Conference, National Constructor Conference, ASSE National Conference, and CURT National Conference.

Matt Joens is a client executive for MākuSafe, a safety technology company formed by a powerful team of software, hardware, and data engineers. During the episode, Matt and our HazTek hosts discuss how digital technology has significantly advanced the functions and expectations of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how beneficial it is for construction workers and safety professionals to include wearable technology in their kit. Matt describes MākuSafe’s digital PPE device that is worn on the upper arm and records temperature, air quality, ergonomics, and sound — in real time — and results in safer and healthier workers.

Matt also cites success stories from clients who, after using digital PPE, have found that the technology and analytics have helped their sites become safer overall. Matt’s years of safety experience and passion for his work make this episode extremely educational for all our listeners. 

Chris Bellina is solo today for a special mini episode of our podcast. In honor of Back to School month, Chris goes over school safety tips for children and parents.  He provides transportation advice, general tips, and cautionary tales for students based on his own experiences as both a child and parent. So, whether your child rides the bus, bikes, or walks to school —  or, if he or she is in the classroom or out on the playground — there is helpful insight for you.

Keeping our children safe in school is so important, which is why we wanted to offer this bonus episode for our listeners who have children heading back to school in the coming days. It’s a great episode to listen to with your kids, so be sure to check it out. 

You can also check out our social media post on the subject: https://www.facebook.com/HazTekInc/posts/pfbid0j3DQkATDALPEazinr82VHNdsCA7CCtKHP8UijyVcNmbZ8pgjAfQGc2LXvKxyFbc7l

Laynnea Myles, Assistant Vice President of Environmental, Health, and Safety at L’Oréal, joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark on this episode. Laynnea is an EHS professional who motivates, energizes, and empowers people to shift their mindset from EHS being viewed as a priority to it being viewed as a value. During the episode, Laynnea explains “felt leadership” and how it helps every worker, from top to bottom. She discusses the many benefits of having members of senior leadership being engaged with every member of their team.

Laynnea also talks with Chris and Matt about the strategies she uses at L’Oréal to make the project sites safer and offers advice for leadership members — including using the “milk carton test.” Her years of experience in the safety field make this an incredibly insightful episode. 

Jim Ellis, a Senior Global Executive with over 40 years of global leadership experience, joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark on the podcast. Jim is an industry expert for engineering and data centers who started his company, J Ellis Consulting Enterprises LLC, in 2022 and works as an Executive Associate Principal Consultant at HazTek. Prior to joining HazTek, Ellis spent 33 years at DuPont in various executive and strategic roles, and most recently, he served as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Data Center Construction.

Jim discusses ESG and how it affects safety leadership. Jim, Chris, and Matt have an engaging conversation about all aspects of ESG, from the consequences of safety leaders not utilizing an ESG model on project sites to the differences in safety regulations in countries around the world. Jim brings valuable knowledge and insight to the episode from his 40+ years of global experience — making this an episode that you won’t want to miss.

Fred Miller is the Vice Present of Business Development for Cyber Sciences, a company that provides precision time synchronization and event recording instrumentation for electrical systems. Fred brings insight about this exciting technology and informs our listeners on how extremely helpful it is for critical facilities. By using this device, the facility workers can know exactly what happened during a power outage — and what they can do to recover quickly.  

Matt, Chris, and Fred discuss this technology in detail, including what makes it different than other devices in the mission critical field. Fred also discusses the evolution of the data center industry since using this technology, as well as the consequences of having electrical problems in a  facility. 

HazTek’s Ray Stupienski joins Chris Bellina and Matt Clark to discuss safety in youth sports — both physically and emotionally. They talk about who should be coaching youth sports and tips for parents with children playing sports. Ray brings his first-hand experience and insight to the conversation, giving listeners valuable advice to make youth sports safer.

 Ray joined HazTek as the National Strategic Accounts Operations Manager in 2013 and is now a Health and Safety consultant who works on improving HazTek employee engagement and experience. Additionally, Ray has years of coaching youth and teenage baseball, football, and basketball — as well as experience as a certified high school football official and a certified youth and teenage Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth/American League umpire. 

Andy Pero, Account Executive for Orion Talent, joins Matt and Chris on this podcast episode to discuss military members transitioning into civilian careers. Andy brings insight into the process that veterans go through to start a new career out of the military. They also discuss resources that current or former military members can utilize if they are thinking about making this transition, and how Orion can help. Orion Talent is a recruiting company that focuses on helping members of the military transition into civilian careers. 

Listeners can send in their safety questions for future podcasts to podcast@haztekinc.com. Listeners can also visit our website to learn more at https://www.haztekinc.com.

Robert Smith, Director of Environmental, Health, and Safety at Prime Data Centers joins Matt and Chris on this podcast episode to discuss the importance of making a human connection in the safety and construction industry. Robert talks about his experience working in safety and how making connections with the people on project sites can enhance the overall safety culture of any organization.

Listeners can send in their safety questions for future podcasts to podcast@haztekinc.com. Listeners can also visit our website to learn more at https://www.haztekinc.com.

Alex Willis, CEO of Leadership Surge, joins Matt and Chris to discuss Diversity & Inclusion in the construction industry — as well as in other working environments. Alex brings a new perspective that challenges how people currently view diversity. He also provides insight on how workers can expand their mindsets to make work environments even more inclusive and fulfilling for everyone. 

Listeners can send in their safety questions for future podcasts to podcast@haztekinc.com. Listeners can also visit our website to learn more at https://www.haztekinc.com.

In the pilot episode of Leading Safely™ | A HazTek Podcast, co-hosts Matt Clark and Chris Bellina introduce themselves, HazTek, and Leading Safely™ — while detailing what listeners can expect from future episodes. In addition, Matt and Chris discuss hot safety topics and provide an overview of the kinds of industry experts we will be meeting along the way.  

Listeners can send in their safety questions for future podcasts to podcast@haztekinc.com. Listeners can also visit our website to learn more at https://www.haztekinc.com.