Recently, SAC Wireless gathered members from a wide spectrum of industries at our headquarters in Chicago for the annual Environmental, Health and Safety Communications Panel Symposium.
More than 100 industry veterans attended. Participants at the symposium represented leaders from wireless, wireline, manufacturing, OSHA and so much more.
Our founder and Chief Field Services Officer Jonathan McKinley says it best. “We are steadily building and strengthening our Safety Culture and communicating that it is our number one priority,” he said. “We want our men and women going home every day after work, as healthy as they were clocking in.”
We always aim to be 100 percent safe from top to bottom at SAC. More than just our tower climbers, it is our staff training in CPR for the entire organization, it is our engineers and architects who spend time in the field to understand the challenges the team is facing and, it is our innovation department who is looking for new ways to ensure as we evolve, safety is at the forefront of our projects and plans.
Some steps SAC has taken overall include, digitizing certifications for its field crews. If a site is being audited, there is a central, digital, on-demand record of every crewmember’s certifications at the foreman’s fingertips. Gone are the days of bulky, easily lost, laminated cards stuffed into a wallet.
We have state-of-the-art training centers in several cities throughout the United States. The Chicago-area facility includes a 50-foot outdoor tower for crews to practice on while earning various safety certifications, including technical expertise and CPR. This recently unveiled feature ensures that our crews, all of whom train at this facility, never get their first climbing experience at a jobsite. The outdoor tower offers a real, hands-on experience where tower techs can prepare for their job and feel confident at the start of their career.
SAC’s 15,000 square-foot climate-controlled facility features four indoor training towers. Classrooms can fit 20 participants hosted by four national safety trainers. Here we cover all equipment and workplace procedures, in a variety of weather conditions, to ensure the safety of workers on the tower and everyone down below.
We have placed an emphasis on hiring military veterans who often come from a previous position of rigid safety standards and training meant to enforce risk mitigation. Our training team has noted how much more receptive military veterans can often be to training procedures.
The symposium was a way for us to speak with the industry and trade best practices. We also shared common challenges and even the positive impact our processes and experts are having on the industry and the communities we serve.
We all walked away with a united vision and safety standard developed. It truly was a chance for the large telecoms combined with large tower companies to pioneer a new, safety standard across the industry.
SAC proudly shared these Safety Culture best practices, and more, at the symposium. We welcomed colleagues throughout the industry to share their expertise and insights too. Working together across the telecommunications business only serves to strengthen commitment to realize 100 percent safety, 100 percent of the time. Safety does not favor a company logo—it’s the daily result of the planning and dedication for those who look out for one another as One Team.
As a business, we aim to set that standard. As people, we aim promote it industry-wide. We look forward to continuing our commitment with the symposium in the years to come.
By Cari Shyiak, CEO, SAC Wireless
November 7, 2019
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