Bill Cummings may have entered the safety profession by accident, but his career has flourished into a passion. Cummings, division safety manager for Central Texas at Alterman Inc., San Antonio, shares how he translates that passion into effective results for the crew.

Tell us about your career journey.

My career started in 2007 at the Toyota manufacturing plant in San Antonio, where I worked as an industrial technician alongside IBEW electricians. When the economic downturn hit in 2009 and vehicle production was reduced, I was offered an opportunity to enter the IBEW apprenticeship program by a journeyman electrician I worked with.

I began my apprenticeship with a small electrical contractor before transferring to Alterman during my fifth year. At Alterman, I was introduced to large-scale construction projects and eventually moved into a foreman role after becoming a journeyman inside wireman.

To be honest, I never planned on working in safety. In 2016, the late Guy Katz asked me to assist with safety efforts at the Toyota plant while continuing to work in field leadership roles. What started as an additional responsibility quickly became a passion. I enjoyed working with people, solving problems and helping create practical safety processes that made sense to electricians.

In 2020, I joined Alterman’s safety department full-time and advanced into my current role in 2022. Looking back, I entered safety somewhat by accident, but I stayed because I value helping people go home safely to their families every day.

How does being a licensed journeyman inside wireman help you in your role?

It gives me credibility because I understand the realities of the work. I’ve been the person pulling cable, installing equipment, troubleshooting energized systems and working under schedule pressures and have faced many of the same challenges our craft professionals encounter every day.

A recent example is my involvement in developing our lockout/tagout policy and helping review our energized electrical work program. My field experience allowed me to evaluate these programs from the perspective of the people who actually perform the work. The goal wasn’t simply compliance, it was creating processes that electricians could understand, trust and consistently follow while maintaining productivity and safety.

I also have helped build and review method-of-procedure documents, helping teams identify hazards and improve work plans before work begins.

How do you build an effective safety culture?

For me, safety goes beyond compliance. Compliance establishes the minimum standard, but building a strong safety culture requires engagement, education and trust. We accomplish that by involving our employees in the process and helping them understand not just what the requirements are, but why they matter.

Our goal is to create an incident and injury-free culture, and that doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built through consistent communication, training and collaboration. When employees are informed, involved and invested in the process, they become active participants in safety rather than simply following rules.

What challenges can get in the way?

One of the biggest challenges is overcoming old habits and long-standing ways of doing things. In construction, people often rely on methods that have worked for them in the past, even when there may be safer or more effective approaches available today.

The best way to address those challenges is through proper planning, communication and employee involvement. By helping people understand the reasons behind our processes and giving them ownership in the plan, we can create lasting improvements in both safety performance and culture.

How do you develop others?

I believe one of the most important responsibilities of a leader is developing the people around them. I do that by sharing knowledge, mentoring field leaders and creating opportunities for employees to grow in their roles. Rather than simply giving answers, I try to help people understand the reasoning behind decisions so they can confidently make good decisions on their own.

From a safety perspective, developing others creates more engaged and capable leaders in the field. When supervisors and craft professionals understand the hazards, the planning process and the expectations, they take greater ownership of safety. That ownership helps build a stronger safety culture and ultimately leads to better outcomes for our employees and our organization.

How do you create systems and develop people that scale across projects and regions?

Sustainable success starts with creating consistent systems, clear expectations and effective training that can be applied across projects and regions. Just as important is developing leaders who can implement those systems in the field.

A good safety program should not depend on one person; it should be built into the organization so it can succeed regardless of project location, personnel changes or growth. We continuously evaluate our programs, incorporate lessons learned and make improvements as conditions and industry best practices evolve. That consistency helps protect our people while maintaining productivity and delivering high-quality work across the organization.