Hello, and welcome to another episode of building PA a construction industry podcast taped and recorded right here in the great state of Pennsylvania for the wonderful construction industry. I am John O'Brien from the Keystone contractors association and I'm Chris Barton with Atlas marketing, and we tell stories for people who build things. Awesome. Good stuff. Hello, Chris, how are we doing today? Hey , John, how are you doing today? I'm looking forward to our discussion today.
It should be fun. We're talking safety today. We have a Clayton live old from libeled, inc. A fine mechanical contractor based in the great city. Great town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Hello clay .
Hello. How are you doing today?
Good. Doing great. Doing good. Well, you are joining us. Like I said, we're going to talk safety. And this is part of our podcast series. Recall what we're calling, building a safety culture and your company has been a member now I believe three years going on three years of the KCA, which is awesome. And , and during that time, your, your company has taken home.
Two of the KCA safety awards for safest subcontractor under 50,000 man hours worked with, with this is the important part with zero injuries. So that's, you're going on a two year streak here, zero injuries. So yeah, so , uh, who better to speak with , uh, concerning safety culture, then a award winning safety contractor that places a strong emphasis , uh, in the area safety. So welcome to the podcast. Sure. Thank you. Yeah. Um, yeah, like I said, we're gonna talk safety here.
So , uh, you know, you want to touch on your company and just first off, maybe introduce yourself and your company and then we can kind of delve into the safety topic.
Sure, sure. So, as you mentioned , uh, my name is Clayton libel , the , the owner and president of libeled incorporated. We're a full mechanical HPAC Xi metal and piping contractor , uh, located here in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. We are , uh, going on eight years in, in business. My company has been going to be in business for eight years here, but I personally have , uh, been in the construction industry and in the field for going on 24 years as a, as a, a union pipe fitter.
Um, so that's kinda my background. And then as a, as I mentioned, my company , um , was formed about eight years ago and we, you know, serve as all of, pretty much all of Pennsylvania , um , and surrounding States. And we do, you know, emphasize, you know , safety as a very important part and aspect of , uh, our job , uh , and our , our day to day activities , uh , in , in the field
Now, concerning safety. Is that, is that something that was kind of instilled in you during your 24 years, you know, working in the field prior to, to starting your company?
Yeah, it was early on, you know, I could, I could tell that, you know, obviously safety is important , um, in the , uh, in the field and , um, it was kind of , you know, brought to our attention on a regular basis and, you know, we , um, we always strive to do things in the safest manner.
Um, as you know, going back 24 years, as it's starting out as an apprentice, obviously you are learning every day and , and things and certain incidences, you know, come up and, and, you know, hopefully you learn from them and, you know, and can grow and, you know, understand how things work, how and why safety is so important, especially in the construction industry, in our field with so many things that could, could happen , um, you know, on the job site related to, you know, heavy objects,
you know, multiple things that can occur that we , we may or may not have control of. So my peers, foreman , project managers , um, I feel did a good job from early on instilling the , the simple fact that, you know, safety is so important. And if you want to continue to , to do your job, be healthy and, you know, continue to, you know, be able to do the job that you're wanting to do to do it in the proper correct manner.
And, you know, just be aware of , of your surroundings and, you know, always have it, you know , on your mind and, and kinda , you know, remain , not get too , you know, laid back in, in your day to day, you know, activities,
Clayton it with your experience. And clearly you have some amazing experiences leading into this, but what do you see as the biggest challenge for , um, not only the safety industry, but more importantly, the construction industry as it relates to safety,
Probably maybe overcoming , um, the, the job site hurdles, the things that are constantly, you know, brought up and , you know, in , uh , the day to day , um, active daily activities of being on site, your timelines are getting shorter and shorter. Uh, things are being accelerated, whether, you know, whatever the reason may be, but I think we all have to keep in mind, you know, that can't compromise , uh, the safety of , of how the job is getting done. Um, and , and the manner that you do it.
So I would say, you know, the, the , um, more recent trend maybe of trying to do as much work as possible in a very short timeframe , um, you know, we just can't, we can , uh, look past or beyond the , uh, the fact of just doing it in a safe manner.
You know, the construction industry has a , has, is we've been talking about it with clients on our end. And I know John and I have spoken about it multiple times, but in that is a worker shortage. Are you finding that in the safety industry as well? Are you, are you having a hard time finding qualified safety professionals? Um ,
You know, not, not, not as , as hard as someone may think. Um, it is , uh , know , I guess the fact that, you know, the construction industry is, is experiencing a shortage in some fields , uh, with us being a union mechanical , uh , construction company, we have , um, a good source for competent well-trained individuals , uh, up and coming through our apprenticeship programs. Um, so, so the, the good key individuals are there to be found.
Um, and we've had good luck with taking some key, you know, employees , um, uh , foreman , project managers, and kind of molding them into, you know, good safety , uh, individuals.
So, you know, it kind of that worked out real well for us because, you know, I feel they're the best and most competent because we're taking their field expertise and knowledge and just fine tuning that and, and molding them into a good safety, you know , um, individual to , to lead and, you know, lay the foundation for the rest of our company as far as the safety program goes
And , uh , concerning , uh , new hires. And when you bring someone on new, either in the field or a project manager , um, is, is onboarding a, a, a challenge at all, as far as making sure that these , uh , new hires also believe in safety and they buy into the safety cultures . Is that a challenge at all with, with new people?
Yeah, it can be , um, especially maybe a younger , uh, the younger generation or , or someone that's not , um, had the, you know, experience of being in the field, seeing , uh, examples of how safety is so important and possibly, you know, not experiencing near misses or, or smaller accidents that might catch their attention.
Um, if they don't have that knowledge and if they're coming from a, a , you know, a field or something, or straight out of , uh , maybe, you know , uh , college or high school that just don't have the experience, it is, it is harder, but, you know, we just have to take the time to, you know, educate them and give them the proper, you know, paperwork, the information, the, the protocol of how we operate as a company.
And we just have to make sure they, they understand it and , um, you know, abide by it , um , because it's not, it's not going to be taken lightly. And that's what I would expect from, from all my employees. So it's , it's something that, that needs to be done and done correctly, or it's just not going to work out.
Yeah. And I'm , I'm getting to know your company more and more, you know, we're, we're a few hours apart, you know, but I'm getting to know your company more. And it seems as though there's a, buy-in amongst your, your foreman and your, your, your top people, you know, in the field and in the office and safety, and I'm sure that's extremely helpful when it comes to onboarding.
Um, was that any advice to other companies, like, how do you get the buy in, or, you know, I don't , I don't know if you can touch on that a little bit.
Sure, sure. Uh, it is , uh, difficult at times to , to make sure that everybody is buying in. Um, I , it , it's important to have the , the top guys in our safety program, leading by example , um, showing that their fellow employees have someone to take after, or look up to, or just bounce questions off of, or, or conditions of, of, of a job site maybe, or someone there to, to offer some advice or guidance if they would have questions.
But , um, as long as they're there leading by example, getting the rest of the crews to, to buy in and understand, that's a way of doing business, that's the way , uh, that I want the culture of the, of the company to, to be like. And , um, you know, they're there to make a point that we're going to discuss , uh, safety , uh , on a , uh , weekly, even daily basis. And that's what is expected and it is gonna have to happen.
And, and if you just keep driving home, that, that point, you know, eventually they , uh, dis you know, believe that it, it does make sense.
And , uh , and there is proof that it works , uh , obviously we're who we're winning some safety awards and, and are zero, you know, injury in the field speaks to that, you know, so if they see the results and as the results are compounding and building , um, we are on a knock on wood , uh, a pretty good streak here of, of not , um, having any , uh, work injuries and , uh, over three years. So they, they see the results.
And I think it's, I think it's easier for them to buy in and accept it as a , you know, a way of, of the daily routine .
Yeah. It's obviously no, no accident, you know, three years. That's a great run. And obviously , um, the buy in , is there , um, also maybe a touch on outside resources? I mean, do you, do you reach outside the company to help with maybe training at all? You mentioned the unions, are they helpful at all?
Yeah . Yep . Yep . They're very, very helpful. We belong to, you know , um , a couple different associations, similar to Keystone contractor's association. We , uh , affiliated with , uh, SMACNA sheet metal contractors association, also the MCAA, the mechanical contractors association, and they do offer a wealth of , uh, continued education , um, safety seminars, conferences , um, you know, on a, on a regular basis.
So we do, you know , lean towards the , you know, on them with, you know, providing additional , uh, valuable tools such as, you know, the , the toolbox talks, the , some guidelines, some, some additional, you know, safety information that we can implement and , um, add to our, our portfolio. It cannot hurt to have, you know, too much information. You don't want to keep repeating certain things or harp on certain, certain conditions or aspects. It's always good to mix it up a bit.
Do you have any , uh , advice, maybe like the share with a young entrepreneur that wants to start out in industry , uh , advice, safety, you know, obviously there's various pieces of advice. You can give someone, but when it comes to doing a 50, 51st company, anything you'd like to share ,
Um, I would say, you know, there's, there's real , uh, no good example where taking a shortcut in , in , you know, safety, whether it's your employee , yourself, your, your fellow employees, or your coworkers, there's real, no good reason to, to do any shortcuts , uh , that would compromise the safety of , of anyone. It would, it really benefit anyone and would certainly do more harm than good by, you know, possibly causing, you know, accidents.
Um, whether, like I said to yourself or to others, you know, just for the simple reason that it might, you think it might be a quicker to do a certain task, one way that may be a little bit more unsafe, you know, or whatever the reason may be. I just wouldn't recommend , um, you know, any, you know , shortcuts or , or trying to compromise doing something in a safe way.
Um, I actually have , uh , had the experience where I had to make a tough call and tell my guys to pull off of a job just for the sole reason that it was unsafe. And it wasn't a popular decision. The , the customer was not happy, but in the long run, after, you know, further explanation from my point of view, he understood it and ultimately was, was okay with it and then thanked me.
So, so that's the , you know , just a brief example of, you know, doing something correctly to not compromise , uh, uh, potentially, you know , um , unsafe condition
In Clayton. That's a great example of, you know, safety first, not only for your company, for your , your employees, but also for the client and the fact that the client came back and said, thank you , uh, you know , hats off to you for that, because that just doesn't happen that often. Um, but, but my question to you is do you find that a lot, a lot of your clients aren't really focused on safety?
Um, you know, honestly I don't, we don't find that we are finding even more and more of our customers and clients are gearing up and leaning more towards a much safer environment, working environment and , and, and job site conditions and working conditions and doing the certain tasks that we were hired to do in the most safe, the safest manner possible. So we, we maybe it's cause we have some pretty good customers and clients, but I do feel ,
Um , I didn't feel home.
We, we, we , uh, we definitely , um, work in some very , uh, very sensitive , uh, facilities where that, that, that, that the unsafe type work is just not tolerated. So we can't, we can't afford to do anything but the job, but , but do the job safely , uh , because we just won't be working there any longer. Um, so I I've found that the emote , I can honestly say most of our customers and clients expect us and hold us to a very high safety standard.
And that's probably, you know, the , one of the main reasons we continue to be safe is we , we also have that , um, in the back of our minds that if we don't do this the right way, we may not be working here, not, not only for my company, but at that facility, you know, any law .
Right , right . And I think too , you know , to your point that the entire industry has obviously put a huge emphasis on safety over the last 20 to 30 years, you know , at least, and we've even seen it with our clients , um, you know, working with trade unions and, and contractors that, you know , we go on photo shoots and, you know, we, we , we know we can't take photography or video of certain elements because it's, there has to be a certain safety functionality to it.
If , if not, there's, you know, it, it shows the wrong story or gives the wrong message if you will. So I think you're right. It's , it's a balance of everybody understanding how important safety is to move the industry forward and get out of the, you know, the, the, the typical thoughts and perspective, perceptive perception, sorry of the industry itself. So I'm glad to hear that from, from both you and your company and your clients. That's great. That's great. Right ? Yep .
Kinda done a lot to me . We touched on a lot here today, Chris, any other questions or comments or , but I would say Clayton, thank you. This has been really enlightening. And , uh, hopefully we can ask you back in the future and we can talk more about safety as it relates, not only to your company, but talk a little bit more about your company too.
Sure. Sounds . Sounds good. Uh, I , um , you know , appreciate the time , uh, that we , uh, you know, we're able to take in and continue to, you know, shed some, some light on a, a more of a safety culture within the skilled trades, you know, sector of the, of the construction industry, and I'm happy to happy to help.
Absolutely. And then have you been a board winning contractor ? Of course, we'd like to have you back on, but I got to request one request. If we have you back in the future, we have to record it at, at your , uh, your company. Chris, you have to see the farm. He has goats , horses. I believe you have horses and pigs and you name it. I love it.
Sure. We're happy to show some folks around when we have visitors. We just had a baby, a baby donkey last week. So she's , uh , she's pretty darn cute. So she's hanging around here, so she's always a fun to hang around with. So it's , uh , it works out pretty well. Yeah .
Well , I have , yeah, I'm there, man. I , I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen a baby donkey , so that'll be a , that'll be interesting.
Sure, absolutely. See
All the stuff we talk about here. It's not just about construction, right. It's awesome.
Yeah .
Very cool. Yeah. Well, thank you for your time here. This is a excellent conversation and we look forward to seeing the baby donkey.
That sounds good. Anytime. Thanks for having me.