Built on Safety: Living Our Core Values at Brubacher

In this special episode of the Brubacher and Beyond Podcast, we spotlight Safety as one of our foundational values through the Brubacher: At Our Core Initiative. Hosted by Chris and co-host AJ, this conversation brings together voices from Brubacher's Safety Leadership Team: Andy, Melissa, and Mike. Together, they unpack what it truly means to embed safety deep into a company’s DNA—not just as a set of rules, but as a mindset, a culture, and a form of advocacy.

This episode dives into:

• The shift from top-down mandates to personal accountability
• The impact of situational awareness and field experience
• Empowering every team member to speak up
• The journey of building trust and creating a culture of care
• How safety evolves with people, tools, and leadership

Whether you’re part of the Brubacher team or just passionate about building a safer, more people-focused work environment, this conversation is packed with real insights, field stories, and takeaways that reflect the heart of what Brubacher stands for.

Subscribe now and join us as we live out safety—not just as a priority, but as a core value that defines how we work, lead, and grow. Because Life Matters.

Transcript

Brubacher and Beyond Podcast Transcript

Episode 33: Built on Safety: Living Our Core Values at Brubacher

Chris S.: Hello and welcome to the Brubacher and Beyond Podcast, where we are shaping the world we live in so more people can find the construction industry uncommonly refreshing. Hello everybody. I'd like to introduce you to episode 33. I don't know how we got to 33, but we're here. It started off with one and I think it's a good point where safety starts somewhere. I would say this to the listeners, if you are a Brubacher team member, hopefully you get something out of this episode with the stories and some of the insight.  And if you're not a Brubacher team member, maybe you have your own small construction firm. Maybe you have a large construction firm, maybe all the above. Maybe you're in the safety industry.  Hopefully you get something out of this today.  Again, my name is Chris Sztenderowicz, Director of Business Development at Brubacher Excavating.  I spend most of my time cultivating relationships with potential new customers in new industries.  And today, we have four guests here, a co-host that's going to start assisting me in the podcast. You already heard them on the last podcast.  AJ, would you like to say hello to our podcast audience? 

A.J. C: I certainly can. My name is A.J. Cobian, and I'm the Marketing and Communications Specialist here at Brubacher. I’m still relatively new, been here a couple of months here coming from a completely different industry; the media industry for about 16 years.  But you know, I'm a storyteller. My job here is to tell everyone's story. And here at Brubacher, I'm here to tell, again, everyone’s story. This is a really special episode because right now, what we're doing is the Brubacher At Our Core Campaign. And that is basically to just emphasize all of our four core values. So, each quarter we focus on one major core value. And of course, I thought the most important one we would do first is obviously safety, you know, whether you're in construction, you're in a hands-on field, you're just navigating your daily life. mean, safety affects all of us, right? So, what better way to talk about this than to speak to our guests here, which are the safety leadership team. 

Chris S.: Absolutely. So, let's start with Andy. Andy, if you want to introduce yourself to the audience, I would say I think Andy is the least tenured employee at the table right now or…

A.J. C: …I am 

Chris S.: A.J., you got that flag. Okay. All right. Good morning, Andy. Hope all is well. If you could tell us a little bit about you and your current role here at Brubacher. 

Andy G: Sure. Absolutely. Good morning. Thanks for having the team here today and for voting me first to speak. So, I appreciate that. But yes, I joined Brubacher back in December of 2024, been in the safety field for about 30 years and making the move to Brubacher was really interesting for me because it's a change of industry having mostly served in general industry. And for those that are in the safety field probably recognize that term but general industry basically meaning anything not construction so manufacturing, warehousing, transportation; those sort of fields is really where I've spent most of my career but was looking for a change, looking for a good cultural fit.  And when I met with the Brubacher team and really learned where safety ranked and their core values, it was a pretty easy choice to take a leap and start a new journey in a new industry. 

Chris S.: 30 years ago, you said you started. Was there a day that you just woke up and be like, I want to be in safety? Or how did you get into the safety industry? 

Andy G.: That's a good question. No, I did not wake up or ever aspire to be a safety professional. My dad was an electrician. I aspired to be an electrician. He aspired for me not to be an electrician and said, you're going to college. And that was just one of their goals for my parents was to send our kids to college. So, I was the first one in our family to go. And I did not know what I wanted to do. Professional football pretty quickly faded from the opportunity list. was about six inches and 50 pounds too short for that. But yeah, I didn't know what I wanted to do at all. I was pretty sound academically, so I had plenty of options, but I had no idea what I wanted to do.  The only thing I knew for sure is I didn't want to sit at a desk constantly.  Like I needed to do something.  So, things like accounting and things that you typically equate to sitting at a desk were of no interest to me.  And interestingly enough, my cousin went to Millersville University. It was a very similar, we grew up together like brothers. He had switched majors about five times, not really figuring out what he wanted to do and ended up in the safety field. said, Hey, it's not bad. Why don't you give it a shot? I went into Millersville declared as a safety and health major from day one. And it was really interesting. And I liked it, enjoyed it. The studies, I would say, don't really prepare you for being in the industry all that much. You know, I think you could probably say that about a lot of college degrees.  You learn a lot of stuff and it's helpful, but really communication and managing personalities are really the two biggest things that you do in this industry.  How to give feedback and things like that. Those are the most challenging parts of this industry. Anybody can line the OSHA regulations, but it's really navigating personalities and influence that I find to be the most important and challenging things in this field.  

Chris S.: Yeah. Thank you for that. I would say though, how would you describe yourself to the audience? I would love to hear Melissa and Michael speak. 

Melissa H.: Are you sure? 

Andy G.: But I think I'm a pretty genuine person. I care about people. And I think that's one of the reasons I've been able to stay in the field and be, in my eyes, fairly successful and still looking to get better. Because I really do just care about the well-being of other people. I want to see them succeed again. Growing up, my dad was an electrician, so I remember him coming home from work, you know, dirty and tired. And my mom was a hairdresser and worked really hard as well. So, I, you know, I just value hard work. And there's value in every kind of work out there, whether you're mopping a floor or you're a skilled tradesman or you're, you know, an executive in a company. It all takes hard work. But the people that are in the most safety-sensitive positions, I think, need people to advocate for them. because they often feel like they might not have a voice, out there, they're the ones on the front lines, and might not feel like they have as much control over their day-to-day exposure in the workplace. And I think that's where safety can kind of step in and advocate for them. And I think that's one of the things that I hope to be able to continue to do here, because Brubacher are already has a well-established safety culture, but I think there's still opportunities for everybody to look at safety as their  support, as their advocate, as opposed to,  you know, the group that tells them what to do or that  enforces rules. mean, of course, there's always a balance between the two.  But again, I guess I got a little off track there. What kind of person am I?  I would hope fairly easy to get along with, passionate, truthful, you know, try and tell it like it is with being direct, but not…not in a bureaucratic way. Yeah, think safety is one of those things. There's black and white rules and regulations. And then there's that gray.  Which seems to be about 90 percent. 

Chris S.: Yeah, exactly. So, our next guest, Melissa Horner, has been at Brubacher for some time now. I'll let her take the thunder of the background.  Pretty impressive. But, you know, this is somebody that has started at Brubacher and Brubacher has had opportunities  for different placements in the workplace. And if you have initiative, which is another core value, there are other avenues to join and move up and grow your career here too. So with that though, Melissa, I'm going to start with describe yourself. 

Melissa H.: Oh, hi, thanks for having me.  So, to describe myself, I’m loud. I wear my heart on my sleeve.  If I’m excited about something, you're going to know about it. If I'm mad about something, you're going to know about it.  And I say that only because I am very passionate about what I'm doing.  And I want people to know that I take them seriously. And I'm willing to help in whatever way that is or whatever capacity I can help.  I'm honest.  I am respectful.  I have no problem calling somebody on their crap…If I'm allowed to say that, sorry. If I'm not, edit that out.  But I also understand there's boundaries, there's rules, and I just, you I want the best for our employees, and I want the best for our company at the end of the day. Because without our people, I don't have a job, you know? So that's kind of me in a nutshell.  I'm a little chaotic at times, but it's a good chaotic. 

Chris S.: Yeah. Yeah. But let's go back real quick. So just give me your history. You started in 2007. 

Melissa H.: Yeah.  So, I pretty much grew up in the industry. My dad, my grandfather, my brother, my sister all worked here at one point. And ever since I was little, I was surrounded by construction. My dad worked here literally since I was born.  And I went to college, and I hated it. I absolutely hated it. Didn't know what I wanted to be there. Kind of like Andy said, I had no idea why I wanted to go to college. I want to play softball. That's why I went to college and decided... That's a good reason. It is, but at the end of the day, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I didn't want to just be at school.  So, over the summer, my dad called and said, hey, Brubacher is hiring. What do you think?  So, I was like, well, all right, I need a job. So, let's try it out. So, I actually got hired as an off-road truck driver. So, I ran Hall Trucks for us.  And that was awesome because my sister was with me. We both got hired at the same time. So, we got put on the same job together.  We got to work together, which is really cool.  And it was hard coming into the industry with no experience at all.  But our guys are great, and they helped me to get where I am today.  So, I started off as a vac truck driver and then things kind of got slow with the recession. And then I kind of bounced over to our utilities crew and I ran with our VAT truck for probably about two and half years. And then unfortunately, I ended up hurting my back and I got put on light duty. And while I was on light duty, thankfully our company offers that I was able to help out in our safety department and kind of get to see the behind-the-scenes factor with safety that I didn't have firsthand.  Because when I first started safety, yes, it was a core value, but it wasn’t where it is today.  So, through that hurting my back, got the experience of safety and I liked it.  And there was an opportunity for me to step into the safety department and ultimately that's what I chose to do.  And I've been in this role now for going on, this will be 13 years that I've been in the safety role.  So yeah, it's been quite an adventure. But it's nice because I kind of got all aspects of the construction world. You know, I have firsthand field experience. I know what the guys are dealing with out in the field. So, I have that relevance for them. So, if they bring concerns or questions, I can help. And I can knowledgeably understand what they're talking about. And I think that helps build a rapport with them. 

Chris S.: Yeah, that's something that being connected, knowing what they're going through, what the stages are, and then knowing what the new regulations are.  So, our third guest, Mike Dinelli, was originally from the energy services side. So, I do think that with the energy service division that we did have for a period of time and the Marcellus Shale, I do think that that did help the Brubacher organization as a whole really step up to the next bar, right? Because you got the bar of the construction world, I would say, and then you have the bar of the oil and gas company, which in my eyes was a little bit higher at the time.  And I will give credit to, you know, Brubacher as a company.  They didn't say, well, that division should be held at a higher standard.  It was the whole company needs to lift the safety.  But Mike, would you like to introduce yourself?

Mike D.: Yep, well, I'm Mike Dinelli, as Chris just said.  Safety, I've kind of dabbled in that from my first job.  I was also in the general industry for like 25 and a half years in a facility.  Worked there in maintenance and actually ran one of the utility departments there is what they call utilities, which would be the boiler maintenance division.  So, not only did we have the safety of our employees, but also the safety of the crews that were working inside the boilers.  So, my dad was a block stone and block mason, stone and brick mason. So, a lot of summers I spent working with him and I knew at that point that's not what I wanted to do. It's a lot of tough work, a lot of long days, rain, shine, doesn't matter.  So, once I got out of high school, did a little bit of farming, but then went into the general facilities. Maintenance there, and then, like said, being on the first aid team, the rescue team that they had, being involved with first aid and maintenance and safety of all the products and working with all those different things in the industry. And then once I moved, then once the energy boom took off in the Northern Tier, I went to work with Chesapeake Energy, kind of the fleet maintenance thing there. So, we had three regions. had West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. So, I had spent a lot of time on the road going to different job sites, different states, ensuring the safety of our employees, guys out in the field, lot of long hours, of phone calls. I slept about two years on my couch because of the phone 24 hours a day going off. And then once the energy department up in Pennsylvania took off, I went to the application, went in for an interview there, got hired in as the facility maintenance, fleet maintenance there.  So, kind of the same follow through. Been always kind of involved in some type of construction, either working with your hands in industry, big equipment, oil and gas.  I think I had a pretty good rounding of all the different sides of safety and watching out for your employees, making sure your employees are…are well taken care of. And I think that's probably once they decided to shut down the northern division, they had this job open up and they had a couple of individuals approach me about coming in and staying on and taking this job. So, I had to go through a pretty rigorous applicator through an interview with Melissa.  So, I got run through the ringer there. I guess I passed because here I am.  But just the whole core value of what Brubacher followed, like what you were saying, meeting industry standards like with the energy products.  A lot of people think with the energy, with the oil and gas, it's all cowboy, git-er-done, this that, but there's a lot of stipulations, of things that need to be followed, certain testings and things that have to be followed, taken care of every year.  But then coming down here, being out in the field, you know, it's like Melissa said, just having that rapport with the guys, so you're really out there getting their feedback of what they're seeing, what they want, they'd like to see done,  different things,  ideas that they have, bring them back to the safety team and  then trying to get them  processed and hopefully we  can get them added to  the program and it's a win-win for everybody, I think.  Yeah.  

Chris S.: So, one of the things is the mindset and responsibilities.  Melissa, can you touch upon what's the mindset nowadays to the mindset back in the day and really how do you think the industry has changed?  

Melissa H.: So, I think everybody had safety in the back of their mind when I first started. Like, yeah, we know we need to be safe because we have a job to do but no one really understood the repercussions of if they weren't safe. For example, we didn't wear gloves, it wasn't mandatory.  Safety glasses weren't mandatory, things like that I look at now that are mandatory, our gloves, our glasses, high vis. You could wear any colored shirt out on the job site as long as you're on the roadway.  And I know that kind of seems really simple, but if you have somebody wearing a beige colored shirt on a construction site, that's all dirt. Guess what color dirt is, guys? It's brown and beige.  You blend in. You know, you're not as visible to your heavy equipment operators. And those machines have so many different blind spots on them that One wrong turn, one misstep, and guess what? Boom, something bad's happening.  So, it was there, safety was there, it was talked about, but there wasn't the precedence there is now, and there wasn't the personal ownership.  think everybody kind of did it because that's what they were told to do, whereas now I feel like there's a shift in people wanting to do the right thing, and it's them realizing that, if I don't do this, this could happen, you know, if I don't wear my safety glasses, I can lose my eye. And I don't want to lose my eye because I have family and friends that are relying on me.  And it's really hitting home, I think, for them.  It's not safety's responsibility. It's not the leadership team.  It's not management's responsibility to make sure that everybody's safe. Yes, we do that. But at the end of the day, it's your own personal responsibility to make sure that you're safe and that you're watching out for one another. And I think that it's just been such a shift from a top-down approach to a ground up, everybody's involved approach and just being able to provide those resources to the guys and know that if they need glasses, they need gloves. We have it. We're here to support them and make sure that they have everything they need to do their job safely and efficiently because injuries take time away from the day. It slows production down. It's a matter of fact, you know, it only takes a second for something bad to happen. But it also only takes a second to do the right thing.  

Chris S.: Yeah.  So, habits for safety or forming habits for safety. Andy, if you can touch upon safety in everyday life, you've been in different industries, right? So, I'm sure habits from one industry can be transferred into another industry.  But what are those consistent habits that you wish people paid more attention to or developed?

Andy G.: I think in every industry it comes down to situational awareness.  And it's probably an overused term in the industry, but at the same time, I don't think it's misplaced. I think it's true.  I think the challenge really is getting people to understand truly what it is, how they can manage it, and how they can control it.  So, for those that might not be familiar, With the term, it's basically just being aware of what's going on around you, the science of paying attention. And, you know, we're all humans. Humans make mistakes. I always say when we're doing training and talking about certain types of things, there's nobody in the room that has never tripped, slipped, or fallen on something. We make errors. We're imperfect. you know, when comes to developing good habits, I think learning how to maintain situational awareness is key because the lack of that puts you in a position where you might be in a pinch of pain. And again, I think back to other industries, the last industry I was in, we also do here with just a lot of truck maintenance. We have a shop here where mechanics take care of our fleet, and many injuries occurred when technicians were putting a lot of pressure on the tool. The tool would slip, or something would break. And the next thing you know that tool is now pinching our fingers against two fixed objects or. coming back towards their face against their teeth or their mouth.  So again, it's just knowing where to put your body, knowing what's going on around you.  On a construction site, maintaining eye contact with machine operators, always watching where your next step is, because you never know where there's a small hole in the ground or a clump of dirt or a rock that you could trip over and again. More often than not, trip, you fall, you get back up, and you keep going. But it only takes that one time where you land the wrong way, or your body reacts a certain way and you've got a significant injury to deal with. I think people understanding and prioritizing their situational awareness for as much of the workday as possible is the cornerstone habit that everybody does. They might not know they're doing it, but you can't survive on the construction site unless you're doing it. You have injuries daily and we don't not have great situational awareness. It's just something we'll always continue to talk about because it's really the key to daily living, whether you're driving to work or whether you're driving for work or on construction site that all kind of comes back to that being locked in and aware of what's going on around you at all times.

Chris S.: Yeah, Mike, Andy said something really important here. think for people in the industry might understand it, but can you describe to our audience what eye contact to an equipment operator is when you walk on site?  

Mike D.: So, as you're walking on the site and you've got multiple pieces of equipment in all different directions, you've got to be aware as to where you're at, as like what Andy's saying. But then when the operators are coming around, you need to make sure before there's any advancement to that piece of equipment, that operator sees you.  

Chris S.: Yeah, and that's usually like if I'm looking at Mike, Mike's looking at me, we both head nod each other.  

Mike D.: …either a lot of times they may even stop what they're doing. Set their bucket down, drop their blade down, whatever.  If you want to pass by and you're just making that visual contact and hand signals and that way you can proceed through, and then they can go about their business once they know your past.  

Chris S.: So, I'm sure everybody's had that time where somebody that's not in the company, maybe it’s Karen next door who thinks that she should come and look what's going on on the job site.  If that ever is you, just please make sure that you have contact with the operator.  That's something. 

Mike D.: We go. I think we go…I think we kind of go above and beyond sometimes to make sure we don't have people wander onto the site. 

Chris S.: 100%. 

Mike D.: That's a big thing. 

A.J. C: It's that simple communication too that just makes all the difference. Just the little things that people do every day and just the habit that's formed. It's like, all right, I need to make sure that I see that person. I need to make sure that everyone sees the hand signals and that everyone knows where people are at. 

Mike D.: Especially if you're approaching something from behind, you need to make sure you're stepped back.  You can kind of take a guess as to what the swing radius is on the machine.  So, you want to kind of stay back beyond that and make sure that that guy either sees you in his mirrors or when he turns, you’ve got plenty of space there and he sees you then.  So that's the biggest thing is approaching something from either the side or back.  

Chris S.: Yeah, especially when you're dealing with blind spots in certain machinery.  So, Melissa, Since I'm going to say you've been in the industry a little while here and you've seen the progression from where there was like a mandatory of safety  and then  implementing it in, I'm sure there was a lot of pains as a safety individual with trying to explain to  team members  that this is the new approach, this is the new  thing that we're going for. Talk us through some of those pain points and how did you stay the north compass with that?  

Melissa H.: Yeah, there was definitely some pains along the way. You're coming with a lot of veteran employees.  Way more years of experience than I have, right? And just trying to get them to understand that I'm not trying to make your job harder. I'm not trying to make it more difficult, but there's reasons behind why we're implementing stricter PPE, for example, because statistics show injuries, pinch points, eye injuries, high vis, boots, safety toe boots with the higher ankles on them.  There's reasons behind why we're enforcing it.  And at first people are like, I've been doing it for years. This is how I've always done it.  Well, there's reasons there's change. We find data, we improve. We're constantly evolving and improving on things. So just because we did something one way before doesn't mean it's the right way to do it.  So, just staying steadfast and strong and having the courage to stand up to those employees that have more years of experience than me and just say, listen, I understand it might seem like a nuisance right now, but this is what we got to do moving forward.  This is where our general contractors are going. And if we want to work for these people, we have to start following through with some of the things and some of the different standards.  But really, it's just having a rapport with our guys and being able to know and build that trust with them and get them to understand that I truly, genuinely want the best for you. Brubacher wants the best for you, and that's why we're enforcing the stricter rules because it's not because we don't trust you. It's not because we think that you're doing something wrong. It's just we can do it better. There's always a better way to do something and we have to be willing to evolve and continually grow and just being able to help them understand where we're moving forward and kind of point out the metrics and say, look, in 2007, this is how many injuries we had that could have been prevented had somebody been wearing gloves, had somebody been wearing their glasses,  more situational awareness,  things along those lines. So just repeating the same message to them and getting them to understand we're on the same team.  We're not against you or core you.  We wanna work together.  And I just think over time, people started to see it. They started to see that when they're bringing concerns to us, we're making changes, we're trying to help.  Initially, the PPE we got, probably wasn't the greatest because it was new for all of us.  And when the guys came to us and said, hey, these gloves aren’t the best, they don't work for my application.  Okay, what do you suggest? What are your recommendations?  And then we kind of followed up on them and gave them options, you know, our pipe layers aren't the same as our surveyors. So, there's going to be different requirements for PPE and different styles and just willing to show them that we're here to help them and work with them. 

Chris S.: So, keep on working on the relationship, get the input, and then give the reason why. I think that's the other thing too, is like, if the team knows why we're doing this or why we're heading this direction, it's a lot easier for everybody to get along and row in the same direction.  Andy, with all the different names that you've been in, there's high risk.  How do you learn that you might be in a high-risk situation you've put yourself in? What should you do if you're in a bad situation? This is probably for people that are out of the industry that are listening to this, but just walk us through, let's talk about this a little bit. 

Andy G.: Yeah, well, one of the things we talk about from day one, that orientation is stop work authority. There's a number of things that Brubacher does and has been doing for a number of years that are really foundational safety practices. And I think talking about and practicing stop work authority, which for those that might not be aware of that, is really just giving the power to every employee, whether you're on the job for the first time, you know, your first week, or you're somebody that's been with the company or in the industry for 20 or 30 years. If you see something that is hazardous, that could immediately put somebody in a dangerous life or death situation, you have the power to call a timeout, to stop the work, talk to your supervisor, and ultimately best practice really is kind of pull the crew together and talk about what was observed, why it was a problem, make sure everybody gets on the same page with we can't do this certain practice, we know this, the reason we did it today was maybe valid in somebody's mind, but kind of refreshing everybody on what needs to be done and how it needs to be done with the correct procedure. So, stop work authority is foundational. But then again, there's many other things that people throughout the organization do to try and, number one, identify risk before it becomes a danger. I think I heard somebody here at the company talk about the difference between hazardous and dangerous. I think that was a great discussion. know, this industry is hazardous, but it doesn't have to be dangerous. And I think that's something I've seen loud and clear during my first several months here is that people that work for Brubacher understand the dangers.  They manage those things; they take them seriously so that they don't become hazards. And I said that backwards, they understand the hazards, manage them so they don't become dangerous.  So, working on a construction site does have inherent dangers, so does driving a vehicle.  But again, situational awareness, proper procedure, proper PPE, good communication, all those things kind of come together and can kind of keep that hazard at bay as long as we're invested in continuing to do those things. 

Chris S.: What's the creating an outlook for everybody's little input on this is creating a culture of care. How does it start?  Where does it end?  I will say I think safety is never there's never an end, right? It's a continuous journey.  Every day has its new challenges.  But I will say I have worked for other companies where safety had to be there. It was a black and white, wear this, wear that, do this. There was no care behind it, right?  Riding with Keith and talking about safety, he cares about safety. He cares about our team members riding with other people.  You know, I think our first podcast was with Keith and Brad and we talked about safety, and it was something that came up.  It is the most important thing that…that Brubacher has in my opinion for its employees, they care about their employees and that means they care about their safety.  How do you foster that caring atmosphere, creating a culture?  I mean, this is a higher level instead of PPE and on the ground stuff. How do you, in your opinion, create that and keep that growing?  

Andy G.: Well, I think for me being the newest to the team, it was really about trying to deal with people a certain way.  So, spending time on jobs, you can either come across as a police officer and somebody that is there just to enforce and dictate rules, or you can try and educate people along the way. So, that’s the approach I've tried to take, again, just from a position of concern and care that I'm here to learn, because it's constantly learning whether or not you've been in the industry for a short time or for a long time. There's always new things to learn. There's going to be new risks, new pieces of equipment, new work processes, new subcontractors, new environments.  So, it's constant learning, constant communication, and I think just coming from a place of care, really, again, I know, trying to oversimplify things here, but I think people can see through the BS pretty quickly. And if you've got an agenda or you're trying to, you you're out there to make yourself look good, that's gonna wear thin pretty quickly. But I think if you're out there truly advocating for the safety and health of our people, I think people do come to recognize that. And for some people it's quick and others it takes a little longer, particularly if there's change involved. But I think if you're consistent, and caring, I think, over time that just continues to reinforce the culture that we want.  

Chris S.: So, one of the things you said was continuous training. So, safety team, right, trains the rest and assist the Brubacher.  How do you get training?  If we can dive into a little bit of that, maybe there is a company out there that doesn't have the resources like a Brubacher.  How do you get safety training?  

Andy G.: Yeah, so if you're not getting it from your employer, there's numerous online sources these days that are fairly affordable that you can reach out. I would say vet them out because some of them are definitely better than others.  But there's an endless supply of online training opportunities. You can even earn a college degree online and safely.  Now, without a whole lot of prerequisites.  So, there's plenty of opportunities for virtual education.  There's lots of industry affiliations like the ABC, or PA One Call, vendor partners. Mike and I were at a fall protection seminar a few weeks ago from a company that provides PPE and other safety related services. So, a lot of different industry outreach, ABC, depending on what type of industry you're in, there's different industry groups that provide training. And I would also say that almost every insurance carrier and insurance broker offers some sort of safety support. So, for those out there that might not have any direct access to a partner or a consultant that has a lot of experience in safety, I would suggest starting with your insurance company. Check with them. Most of them provide some loss control or risk control support. And while they might have a cap on how much support they can provide, they could at least give you some direction. 

Melissa H.: I think also to that, it's helpful to be able to network. It's construction, it's not rocket science. 

Chris S.: There's no other construction firms. None.  

Melissa H.: So, I think being able to network and being able to reach out and say, hey, we're running into this situation. Did you guys ever run into this? Just kind of being open to ask those questions and reach out to the resources that you do have available.  They might not have an answer for you, but like Andy was saying, they might have a contact, or they might know somebody that can help you or get you in with training.  I think everybody, when you talk about safety, has the same understanding and has the same wants and needs for their employees. I think it's just a matter of being able to use your resources and ask for help and network.  

A.J. C.: And that kind of collaboration definitely helps everybody across the board, not just a Brubacher, literally anybody in the construction industry. And to just have that, to try and expand that culture to everybody would help reduce injuries, definitely reduce deaths.  And again, just make this at the forefront of what we do just as an industry. Now, seeing this, just seeing the evolution of safety, and I want to ask you this, Mike, I mean, what advice would you give to somebody coming into the industry about taking ownership of safety?  

Mike D.: Think about themselves and the people that it’s affected, that be affected by them not being safe, their family, their mom and dad, their aunts, uncles, their kids, their spouses. I think that's a big push here is the why. Why do you want to be safe when you're out on the job looking? I was just at the National Contractors Insurance Conference here this last week where you do a lot of networking with other companies. A lot of cards get passed back and forth; a lot of conversations happen. And there's more and more companies that are going to that. It may sound selfish that it's me, but it's really not. Because if you're not there, what happens to the rest of your family? They all rely on you to be safe, to be there for them. They rely on you. And people, a lot of people don't realize that, well, I gotta go to work today. Well, you're going to work for a reason. You have support of your family. You have your life you wanna live. You know, me, I'm lucky I've got three kids, seven grandkids.  So that really gives you an outlook as to what you want to do and why you want to be safe.  So, I think everybody can just take in that extra one minute, 10 seconds to stop and look before you do something.  It makes a big difference, I think, in the culture.  

Melissa H.: I just have one thing to tag on to that.  Be willing to ask questions. Be humble enough to say, I don't know. This is new to me. I'm going to ask questions.  There's no dumb question. And our employees are fantastic at teaching people.  They want to see you succeed.  So, you just have to be humble enough to ask those questions. Don't be afraid. And I can say that.  I remember stepping out on the job site my first day, nothing but guys everywhere…terrified, not knowing what I was really doing and just saying, you know what? I have to ask these questions. I have to stop and ask. I'm not just going to go through it and assume I know what I'm supposed to do.  So I think just being able to ask those questions, especially the younger employees that are coming in with less experience, it’s OK to ask questions. It's OK to stop and slow down. 

Chris S.: I think in our orientation, we push that a lot.  So, what is orientation, Mike? 

Mike D.: I don't know. So, we're bringing on new employees, and they'll go through an orientation.  They'll meet with different members in the office, know, fleet and HR and then safety.  And then safety has a couple of different acts, things that we go through, talking about how our safety program is, what we expect of employees for safety, different rules, regulations and stuff that we have that may be something they're not used to. They may have come from the mom-and-pop contractor. They had no idea what a hard hat, safety glasses.  They just know they need steel-toed shoes.  So, this is why we do it and we explain as to why.  But I think the big thing is Andy and I usually share orientation. If he's busy, I'll do it, or if I'm busy, he does.  But we try, I know probably a minimum of seven or eight times off. Reiterate on what Melissa said is, stop for a second, think, and ask. Because a lot of guys that we get don’t have a construction background.  So, if you don't know, you need to ask.  And most of our, well, probably all of our supervisors, everybody that they’ll be, they're willing to answer their questions so that they know.  Because they don't want to see them get hurt either.  So I think that's the big thing is just trying to get a drill through them is to, you just need to ask questions.

A.J. C.: That's kind what I've been doing here. know I've only been here since about March, but I've done several field visits and many more to come. And obviously not, I think not being in a construction background. mean, I'm asking, I'm trying to ask tons of questions. Probably to the point where I'm getting annoyed, but it's like, I need to know because, know, I know the construction industry is hazardous and I want to make sure that even though while I'm out gathering content, I want to make sure that I'm doing it safely as well, but also as I'm gathering the content,  I have to make sure everyone else is  being safe as well. Because if you're not wearing your hard hat, you're not wearing your gloves or anything like that, I can't use that for social media. I can't use that for internal communications. I can't use that for videos. So that's one of those things I have to ask because a lot of the stuff I don't know. And as I'm going through, I'm kind of learning, learning the ropes and, you know, hopefully I'll be able to learn more. So, I mean, I think it's great that Brubacher are actually, you know, it's not just teaching people who have been in this their whole lives, but people like me who have never been in here in this type of industry. But I mean, I have learned so much more than I ever have just in a short amount of time.  It's a different perspective. 

Chris S.: Yeah. Different, different way of looking at things. So not to get too deep here, but we are getting to the end of this podcast here for the people that are listening. But, Andy, where do you see the future of safety at?  Give us a big, hopefully you're not gonna say AI, or maybe you will say something with AI.  

Andy G.: I think Mike learned a little bit about AI last week. We’ve definitely been talking about things like where the industry's going, but I think Melissa hit it on a couple words when she was talking about, you mentioned evolution, evolve, being humble. I think those are two great words because all you need to do is walk down the hallways here and look at the pictures.  There's amazing pictures that litter the Hallways of jobs from 20, 30, 40 years ago all the way up to today. I, again, being newer, still enjoy just stopping sometimes and looking at them. But what you see in those pictures are practices and equipment and personal protective equipment or the lack thereof along the way. It kind of paints a picture of how safety evolves along with everything else. The equipment and the tools needed to do the job. I think we continue to just work in direction of servant leadership where we try and set a course. And think Keith does a great job of instilling those values throughout the company. And again, going back to what Mike said of orientation, unless Keith is out of town, he's meeting with every new hire on their first day. And think that says a lot as well, that a company president would take the time to meet with an individual or a small group of individuals on their first day of employment and spend real time with them talking about his value system as a man and as a business owner, I think sends a real strong message. So, I just see a continued evolution, but I think the foundation is here. I think we just continue to build on it, continue to improve the small things. One of the things that we talk about is sweat the small stuff.  Details matter.  The difference between a high vis vest and a dirty high vis vest could make all the difference in the world.  And that's just an example of sweating the small stuff.  So again, just continuing to elevate people's awareness, educate them, support them and just serve as a resource for the organizations we continue to grow and evolve is really what we're all about.  

Chris S.: Yeah, the thing that pops out to my head, if you do walk into our doors, you'll see on the left-hand side a picture of Keith when I think he's like 15 years old driving a roller.  And I don't think that would be accepted today. But that’s where it was then.  T hat's not acceptable today. Probably what we're doing today is not gonna be acceptable 15 years from now.  And we gotta keep growing and moving forward.  And with that, I think we're gonna wrap this podcast up and land this plane. But for everybody, I'd like to thank you. I say this, if you like this, let us know. If you don't like it, that’s even better to let us know that you don't like it.  If you think you wanna be a guest or if you have a guest that you would like us to interview,we would openly take all that  opinions from you  and try our best to book that guest.  But with that, I will say thank you for your time today and I look forward to recording episode 34. Have a great day.

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