Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Dynamite instantly captured worldwide demand, and Alfred Nobel became rich beyond his wildest dreams.

The market attraction for dynamite was not based on its explosive power so much as its nonexplosive properties. Unlike gunpowder or nitroglycerin, dynamite could be loaded and transported safely without the danger of blowing up from accidental sparking or excessive jostling. 

Here we see a parallel to potential job-site hazards in new construction and service and maintenance today.

Electrical construction and service is the business of conveying electrical products on the “last mile” of their journey from original manufacture, through distribution channels, to their final installation.

It’s all about people, products and equipment constantly in movement. And, in most types of work-related accidents, there is some movement involved.

Nobel toyed with nitroglycerin for years to find a way to manage it safely in storage, transit and on-site. After many tries, he found that mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth (the fossilized remains of microorganisms called diatoms) would do that, and dynamite was born. 

He went on to invent the blasting cap, which would safely cause dynamite to detonate.

This story stoked our imagination: What process could be blended into construction that would reduce motion-related accidents?

That question led us to Butler, Pa., to visit with Mike Wright Sr., chairman of the board of 70E Solutions, a safety services firm with a national reach. 70E Solutions provides a complete set of capabilities ranging from rigorous testing and certification of PPE, tools and equipment, to award-winning NFPA 70E education and training at their clients’ workplace locations. We got right to our first question:

We’ve been tinkering with the thought of how physical movement—of people, materials or equipment—is a common denominator in a significant share of workplace accidents. Statistically speaking, would a worker staying within the confines of a specified area be much less likely to trip or fall than one repeatedly traipsing back and forth across a busy job site?

Studies show that, on average, up to 14 hours per week per individual electrician are lost walking around, hunting tools, parts and pieces. On construction sites, the condition of walking surfaces is usually less than optimal. So, we are not only talking about a loss in productivity, but also the chance of injury. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15% of all accidents are from slips, trips and falls. A common sprain can lead to lost time of several weeks to several months—and, with surgery, it can mean 4–6 months!

In keeping with our cut-down-on-travel theory, wouldn’t it be substantially safer, for example, if an electrical contractor used as much “kitting” of items as possible? That would reduce job-site errands, especially if the kits were thoughtfully packed with electrical products, drawings and instructions, specialty tools needed, additional PPE required and anything else that would save an unnecessary trip.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart! My company is a major “kitter” of a line of products for the U.S. government. Ben Franklin had a saying, “time is money.” At the total loaded cost per hour per employee, how much money is wasted—and accident risk incurred—per day by electricians simply searching for the parts needed to complete a task? I remember one large construction project where there was a standing joke that they should issue you a state hunting license as soon as you arrived on the site. 

The benefit of kitting would extend as well to reducing the number of spur-of-the-moment off-site trips to distributors or big-box stores for small items, hand tools or other needs. Avoiding that kind of unplanned travel ought to be considered important, especially with respect to safety.

The second leading cause of workplace deaths is vehicle accidents. Assembling all the components, tools and PPE necessary to complete a task will improve productivity and lessen the safety exposure of traversing the site—or eliminate many a needless run down the highway. Yes, I think you have a dynamite idea!

A surprising twist: At his peak, Alfred Nobel owned 90 factories supplying munitions to militaries around the world. In 1888, when his brother Ludvig died, a French newspaper mistakenly published an obituary about Alfred, not his brother, calling him “The Merchant of Death.” This harsh rebuke drove him to fund a set of annual awards for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics—the Nobel Prizes. 

mike wright Sr.