I hope that you are reading this SAFETY LEADER magazine before or during the NECA Safety Professionals Conference. For the first time, the meeting is open to everyone in the safety and electrical construction industry. The takeaways from presentations such as “Communicating in a Crisis” by Anthony Huey, “Avoiding Legal Risks in 2021” by John Cruickshank and many more will help you be a better safety leader and benefit your organization.
In this issue, Katie Keuhner-Hebert interviews seven experts about avoid- ing shock incidents. Electrical contractors that educate and train employees should try to make sure to work deenergized, wear PPE and more, but accidents still happen and people sometimes make bad choices. Each expert addresses managing the risk from their own area of expertise. For example, safety veteran Hugh Hoagland’s arc-flash testing company is working on clothing that senses a shock and calls a supervisor or EMS. Read “Don’t Touch That!”
OSHA experts believe that many electrical injuries happen because critical information isn’t shared by “host employer” with the “hired contractor.” In “Keeping Everyone in the Loop,” Chuck Kelly (also our management columnist) explains both sides’ responsibilities according to OSHA standard 1910.269.
Tom O’Connor guides safety professionals through a comprehensive safety management program assessment. You can do an internal evaluation or have an outside third-party audit. You can cover the basics or go really in-depth. Read “Safety Program Step by Step” to find the best way for your company.
Safety is critical for us all; it is not a proprietary issue. An electrical mistake can change a worker’s life in a second, not to mention the lives of their family members, friends and co-workers. We hope this magazine helps you and your employees stay electrically safe at work and home and everywhere else you go.
About The Author
a652baa8-f867-4906-a52f-958f29150f85.png?sfvrsn=42e05e85_1 "MicrosoftTeams-image (3)")
Wesley L. Wheeler
Executive Director of SafetyWHEELER, SMS, CESCP, is NECA’s executive director of safety and is a Safety Management Specialist through the BCSP and Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional through NFPA. He is technical committee member on NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, Code-Making Panels, and a former technical committee member on NFPA 70E. He also served as an employer representative on the OSHA ACCSH Committee from 2019-2023. Reach him at [email protected].
Julie Mazur
Managing Editor, Electrical Contractor magazineJulie Mazur is the managing editor of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, Safety Leader and Line Contractor magazines. Before coming to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, she was an editor at Knight-Ridder/Tribune newspapers and the Los Angeles Times and taught English as a foreign language in Egypt and Japan. As managing editor, Julie oversees the whole publishing arc. She plans and assigns the stories for every issue, works with writers and designers and interacts with the printing plant. She has a mass communications B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Go Bears!
Permanently retired from ziplining, Julie is an enthusiastic sports spectator and radio listener. She likes to read, exercise and cook.
