Service Transmission Exploration & Production
Our EPIC Pittsburgh team was excited to host and present at a recent Buckeye STEPS forum, held in St. Clairsville, OH at the Belmont Hills Country Club. The meeting was attended by 55 Risk Control and Safety professionals representing multiple companies across the region.
The objective of The Buckeye STEPS Safety Network is to establish regional forums for members of the Oil & Gas Industry and associated Governmental agencies to actively share industry safe work and recommended best practices; safety alerts and issues; educate membership, and eliminate workplace injuries.
EPIC Assistant Vice President (AVP) and Senior Risk Control Consultant Chuck Yorio shared his knowledge and expertise on “Connecting Mental Health & Workplace Injuries” through a “People First” approach he has dubbed “Focus Fourward.”
As Chuck notes, “The construction and extraction industries have the second-highest rate of suicide – 53.3 per 100,000 workers, according to a 2016 deep dive by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A 2016 study by the Colorado School of Public Health reviewed 17,000 workers’ comp claims and found that 60% of women and 33% of men reported a behavioral health condition before the incident. The connection between employee mental health and overall workplace safety must no longer be ignored. Adding logical risk control methods related to mental health can result in a safer, more productive workplace, with other positive, indirect consequences. Whether it is human error or a lack of skill, knowledge, or experience, it is well established that unsafe behavior is a leading immediate cause of accidents Therefore, it is responsible to associate mental health with suicide or errors leading to incidents, quality, or production deficiencies. I’m pleased to share the latest strategies national organizations and smaller employers are utilizing to address the “next level” of the zero injury culture.”
