Show Notes
Today on The Jay Allen Show, Jay speaks with Ted Carew from The Ted Speaks Live Podcast. During the conversation Ted and Jay discuss how Ted got into safety, how his career in law enforcement took him down the safety path, and how Barney Fife had an impact on what he was doing.
Thanks to Safety FM+ for sponsoring this episode of The Jay Allen Show.
[00:00:03] spk_1: this show is brought to you by Safety FM. Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the J. Allen show. Thank you for coming out one more time to hang out to see exactly what we have going on here today. Anyway, thank you For all of the responses from the episode of last week with Emily Kunis like to hear that a lot of you seem to enjoy it anyways, before we get too deep into this episode. Today, I want to talk about some things that we have going on right away. If you have not entered into our latest contest, let me tell you about it real quick. It's the contest where we're giving away a ticket to go to the accident investigation theory in practice hosted by Nippon AnAnd and Todd Conklin. If you want to enter into our give away, all you have to do is go to safety FM dot com forward slash contest that safety FM dot com forward slash contest We're giving away a ticket that will get you to go to both sessions, the one hosted by Todd Conklin and nipping himself. So if you want to enter like I said, Go to safety FM dot com forward slash contest. Anyways, let's talk about some of the things that we have going on today. I have been recently hanging out on social media, and I was able to find this very interesting podcast titled Ted Speaks Live. So of course, with that being the case, I decided to reach out to Ted himself and say, Hey, let's sit down, have a conversation and let's talk about what you have going on with inside of the industry of safety. So that's where the conversation starts today, with me and Ted having a conversation about how he got into safety and everything else that we can talk about. Enjoy it here now on. The J. Allen Joe Show is streaming now on safety FM dot life Thank you. I mean, I have to tell you, I was looking around on LinkedIn and you popped up and I was like, I'm always interested in what other people are doing. And of course, when I bring somebody onto the show, it normally starts off with the simplest question becomes the most difficult question sometimes and is why did you decide to get into the world of safety.
[00:02:20] spk_0: Yeah. You know, safety has been something. I went to college. A lot of people don't realize that because I talk to people. Don't think I do go to college. But I went to college and I actually graduated in law enforcement.
[00:02:32] spk_1: That's not endorsing. That's not endorsing at the University of Wisconsin by you saying that. You know that, right? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:42] spk_0: And I was fortunate enough to get a job in law. And I was a police officer for a couple of years, and I really enjoyed always being able to help people. But a law enforcement was just so I wanted to be The Barney fights in the area. I was that, you
[00:02:56] spk_1: know, some hold on based on age demo. Some people might not know exactly what that means. So you have to keep that in consideration too.
[00:03:03] spk_0: You know, that's very true. Barney Fife was many years ago, was a law enforcement officer that tried to, uh, be everybody's friend, but also enforce the rules. And so, um, that's kind of what we tried. I tried to do, and I really enjoyed that. But I was fortunate enough to get a job at a hospital and become a safety and, um, a security officer. And I really was all of those mobile security part. But then I started learning the hospital side of things in the safety and what it really can do and make an impact on people's lives. And then from there we got a job as a safety consultant where I became working with a lot of different companies and learning how the general industry worked. I was just fascinated by how they have policies, procedures, respirators, all that type of stuff. And I saw I really got started to enjoy that more and more. Unfortunately, I got a, uh, an offer from a construction company that was one of my clients and said, Hey, come on board here and, uh, working safety and travel all over the country and help people. And so I did that for a while, and I was fortunate enough to build my way up through that company and become safety director.
[00:04:18] spk_1: Well, hang on. Before we get all the way down there, we'll take it step by step. So don't don't go too far, because this is where I'm kind of curious. So what caused you to want? So you went to school for criminal justice. You decide that as you're going through it, you just that you become a police officer. There's some things that you liked. But why did you decide to leave the force? What is it that the thrills you so much about? Safety there was like, Hey, I've already I've already actually put in four years going to school for it that you said, Hey, let's go ahead and do the change. I mean, because that's a big step.
[00:04:49] spk_0: It is, you know, and I think both of them are very familiar because they're helping people, right? Both of them are to make people safer and that with law enforcement, you're dealing with a certain population all the time. You know, when you're a law enforcement officer and next to be tough and it really changes, you know, you're working three different shifts. I could be working a night shift and you got to go to court and all that kind of stuff. So, as a family developing a family, bringing a family, uh, it was tough, you know? So my wife and I just made the decision that We just didn't want to do the three shifts. Change it around, go to court and all that kind of stuff that we're all involved with, It being a police officer. Um, I highly respect the police officers. They do a great job, but it just wasn't something that I felt comfortable doing my whole career. And so
[00:05:34] spk_1: So So how does that transition work for you? Because I would understand, I would probably imagine. And this is just me imagining. Of course, there has to be some difficulty from going from an armed officer day in and day out to going into a security guard aspect. Even though you're you're still doing, you know, you're helping people to an extent, but there's a huge difference between the two. So how was the adapting of that? As you as you started to move forward?
[00:05:58] spk_0: Well, I think you know, very similar to what we do in safety, right, Jay? Um, is that it's all about people. So you have to be able to work with people. If you can't work with people, you're not gonna be successful. I don't care what you and so it was just being able to adjust and work with people and and treat them fair and honestly, you know, And I think once you do that, do that consistently in the security people, you get that where people understand what you're trying to do.
[00:06:24] spk_1: So what did the people from the force tell you at the time? I mean, what did your fellow officers tell you when you say, Hey, I'm going to leave and I'm going into the security job. Do they think that you have lost it for a few minutes?
[00:06:34] spk_0: Yeah,
[00:06:35] spk_1: they
[00:06:37] spk_0: definitely did. You know, um, but I had a lot of I still have a lot of good friends that are police officers working and stuff like that and years down the road, they always seem to have done it. So you know, that kind of thing.
[00:06:51] spk_1: So do you ever do you ever miss the force? And I know that, you know, your family played a concept into it, and I don't ever want to go back and go. I should've Could've would've but do you ever miss being in the force?
[00:07:01] spk_0: Um, yeah, and some some days I do. You know, there are those days that are But I'm very happy with the choice that my wife and I made, you know, going into the safety rules because I found that safety has been such an enjoyable passion of mine that I really don't look back at it.
[00:07:19] spk_1: So when you talk about changing careers, what are we talking about? Years wise, Like what year are we talking, give or take that you decided to make the transition from leaving law enforcement to going into full time safety.
[00:07:30] spk_0: Yeah, it was probably in the
[00:07:31] spk_1: late nineties. Late nineties. So we're talking late nineties, so you're having over a 20 year plus career. So as you go into this construction company, well, let's get to the construction company. I know you said you worked as a security guard at the side of the health industry, but as you get to the construction company, how do you get into that? Because, I mean, that's one heck of a change going from going from law enforcement to then security to now construction. I mean, we're talking about a world of difference here.
[00:07:57] spk_0: Yeah, you know, you're right, J. It was a big difference. Um, was not eye opener for me. I'll be very honest with. But I think the way that works for me is, um, as I was saying, that being as I was safety coordinator before that for a local company and one of my clients was this construction company. And so they said, Hey, you should come to work for me and they threw. You know, what we all like is the money, right?
[00:08:21] spk_1: Right. Opportunity
[00:08:23] spk_0: and not really thinking about it too much. And so I I jumped into it, and, uh, I learned a lot on the job very quickly. How to work with people. Um uh, and this is when safety still wasn't where it is today. It was kind of just the start of it. And, um, people were not, very, uh, understanding of being able to switch the way they were doing things right.
[00:08:45] spk_1: So right then or is it still the blame and Shame game? I mean, let's say let's be realistic to this extent, Um, it's still a curse today, but is that the case at the time? Is that what you're still seeing? I mean, a little bit heavier involved the workers to blame in that particular regards as you're starting off your career.
[00:09:02] spk_0: Yeah. You know, I think when we start off, we're always looking at you know what happened. You know, why did this happen? And we were really weren't looking at. Oh, maybe it was us not doing something properly right. Maybe we weren't setting them up to be successful. And so that was something I learned early in my career. You know, um, that we had to get better.
[00:09:22] spk_1: So at what point during your career do people start turning around and go the positive safety coach? Because it's a very interesting moniker and normally not something that's really normally associated to safety. There's either a safety coach. There is like, uh, any other kind of coach with safety, but normally, not positive is not the word that ties in. So how do you end up getting with us?
[00:09:43] spk_0: That's a great question, Jay. Well, I I've always been a very positive, optimistic individual. I I love working with people. I'm very enthusiastic. I'm a morning person, right? What? I learned on that very first job that we were kind of talking about. This is a dirty old foundry. It was nothing really good about it every day, every day you go home and got stuff in your eyes and all that kind of stuff, and you worked with guys that are a little unhappy. But if you show them a little bit of kindness and you'll be able to work with them, um, they can really take that safety to another level, not even know it sometimes. And that's really what I enjoy. Doing with them was being able to keep things optimistic, fun, you know, and looking at it. Hey, you know what you know, or just making little jokes here and there and keeping people putting a smile on their face. And then now they're thinking about Oh, maybe Ted's not as bad as he appears to be.
[00:10:34] spk_1: You know, Maybe
[00:10:35] spk_0: maybe maybe this safety stuff isn't all that bad, you know, because pointing at people in town and what they're doing wrong, it's not what they want to hear, so they want to hear some some positiveness. And so I learned that very early in my career that that positive works a matter of fact, the vice president, uh, who was interviewing before I took that job, and he's like you know. I don't know if you're gonna work. You're much too positive.
[00:10:58] spk_1: So So then let me ask the strange question as you go into it and people are saying how positive you are. Well, it's some. It's some versions of safety Some people refer to the safety department is the safety comes. I'm sure that you didn't look at that as a negative light at the time. Because you like the law enforcement. You're doing something that you're enjoying because you're interacting with people. So and people are seeing you in a positive and a positive sector, which is kind of odd for safety back in the day. Not so much. Now, how are you looking at this at the time? I mean, how how are you adapting? Are they looking at you more as an operational guy? And then to add on top of that being, as you had not been in the construction field, how does that go? Because you know how it is from time to time people. There are people that are out in the field. Go. I know more than what this guy is telling me. So why is Ted telling me what to do when I have X amount of years of experience.
[00:11:50] spk_0: Well, I mean, that's another good question. You know, when I went out to the projects and stuff, You're right, people. Look at Hey, you've never done construction. What do you know about this stuff? And they're right. And I tell him that I said, Well, then how would you do this? You ask them the question back, and then what you find out is that they're going to tell you they're gonna brag about it for a while, and they say, Okay, well, and so what I always did was versus playing the safety cop. I play the dumb cop.
[00:12:13] spk_1: I don't
[00:12:14] spk_0: understand how this works. I let them tell me how the solution, and then they got it. Now what happens is they're telling everybody else. I showed Ted exactly what needed to be done, and he agreed with. Now I have. Now I have a salesperson that's selling our product, which is safe,
[00:12:29] spk_1: right? So essentially you have a you have will say, a cheerleader, an influencer and advocate. That's out there because hey, he agreed with what I had to say
[00:12:38] spk_0: exactly. Yep. Yep. We have a cheerleader going out there and saying, Hey, you know what I told Ted or I told that person, you know, now we're gonna This is the way we're going to do it because I came up with it, and that's exactly what you want.
[00:12:49] spk_1: So when you kind of look at the will, call the different religions of safety, that's my wording, not anybody else's. I don't want to misconstrue anything. Do you lean heavier towards one side of the house and the other Do you lean towards the leans or the BBS or the hops of the world? Or what exactly do you kind of center a lot of your safety solutions around?
[00:13:08] spk_0: Well, you know, I've done a lot of education a lot. A lot of those different ones. So I take a little bit bits and pieces that fit me naturally, I guess.
[00:13:16] spk_1: Uh, so your non denomination. Okay, I got you. Exactly. I
[00:13:21] spk_0: really do believe in that. Because you still have to make it about your personality. What works for you and what I found that works for me is kind of a combination of a lot of different ones. You use a little bit of behavior based. Look at the safety, um, system information systems. Um, look at those little little different ones and using them and growing people through there. So not really one way or another, like you said not.
[00:13:43] spk_1: So let's jump around a little bit. We're gonna skip over the next kind of sequence of work that you do. Not that I'm saying that it's not important, but you do. And you do another kind of senior high level job coming up next after the construction job. So once you go into this next thing that you decide, Hey, I'm going out on my own. Why all of a sudden going from a corporation to saying, Hey, I'm going to take a risk on myself.
[00:14:08] spk_0: Well, thank you. Yeah, that's that's another good question. People ask me that question, J, um, and the reason why I think you kind of look at it from changing from law enforcement to safety a little bit. I really, um I have always wanted to start my own business in several aspects, you know, and I just have always had that urge, But I've always had reasons why not to, um, you know Maybe it's insurance. Maybe it's this or maybe it's not. And so I just got to a point in my career. I said, Well, this is now, you know I need to do it and I need to push forward. I'm trying to start my own A company and being able to do the things that I thought my head always would work Well, so now I get to put the rubber to the road.
[00:14:47] spk_1: So now that you're putting the rubber to the road, But you do this during a very, very interesting time, if I may add, we're talking a month pre pandemic, give or take from what I could find. So I mean, of course, you're you don't You're not a fortune teller. So you're not gonna be able to know that this is what's going into to the effect. But all of a sudden, this occurs what's going through your mind when you decided to take the risk on yourself. And this is all going on because the world has changed?
[00:15:15] spk_0: Well, you know that. That's another question on on that, because a lot of people ask you that too, You know, I look at it was just an opportunity right now for me to do it. And I do feel that there's a lot of, um, opportunity now with the new the new administration coming in, Um, there's gonna be different things. I think there's a lot of contractors, uh, and companies that are going to need a lot of help. And so in looking over the market in this local area, I really felt that there's an opportunity there to start the business and and be able to perform, um, great services or organizations.
[00:15:54] spk_1: So pre pandemic, what's the plan with the business is just to take the dive, because keep in mind, we're still talking old administration at the time. We're not talking anything about covid. So what's the plan for your business as you're starting it up at the time? So what do you what? Because you have to have a niche. I mean, any time you go into this thing, you have a niche. So what's the niche at the time? Because we're talking now future tense or what's going on Currently at the time in February before you launch, what were you thinking about going after?
[00:16:20] spk_0: Well, there's two things that we really I really wanted to accomplish. Number one was go after our niche market, which was the small and medium sized construction companies. We really feel that that 20 to 200 unemployed, uh, is really where our niches being able to help those companies because I think in construction is very unique. The EMR so important to those companies And a lot of these smaller companies don't understand that concept or understand that until until a little bit later and then they can't figure out why they can't compete with the other contractors.
[00:16:51] spk_1: Well, they realize how important it is after they've got turned down for a contract. Is normally how it goes.
[00:16:57] spk_0: Yeah, and several of them. And now they're rates are going higher and they just can't compete, you know? And now, as you know, Jay, we gotta wait three or four years to get that thing down and stuff like that. So I really want to go. I feel that there's a need for these contractors in that niche market to understand that EMR how that is a business sense, right? Um, because that's what it's about is being able to keep their costs down and E. M. R is just one of the many things that, as you know, that we can offer for companies to make sure that they're addressing those issues. Because in construction, it's the difference between getting a job and not getting the job.
[00:17:33] spk_1: Absolutely. And you might be riding the pine for quite some time, depending on that number. So at this particular point, as you're going through this, at what point does all of a sudden you turn around and go? I have an idea. Ted speaks live podcast. I'm gonna ask you about the title here in a moment, but at what point do you decide? This is where I need to go next?
[00:17:56] spk_0: Well, I've always I've been very fortunate my career. I've been able to mentor a lot of safety professionals, and I really enjoy doing that. Being able to talk to them, be able to help them understand the book, but more important, how to deal with people. And I've always enjoyed that, and one thing that I think that I wanted to do was I know there's a lot of safety professionals that are out there that don't get the support that I have been fortunate in my career to get, you know, and that sometimes they looked at Hey, why don't you get this done quicker or, you know, you gotta do it this way. If you don't do it this way, we don't need you anymore. And so I wanted to be able to take experiences from professionals all over the country all over the world and see how we can help. So just by listening to a podcast, um, and for a 20 minute podcast, understand? Oh, this is how he dealt with this issue. This is how they dealt with this issue. Or she dealt with this issue. Um, just something that that people can listen to and get a little bit of dollars And maybe if they get into this situation
[00:18:59] spk_1: Hey, have you ever wanted to hear what's going on around in the world of safety and you're not able to do so? Have you ever wanted to take a listen to what exactly is going around in the world of safety? What if we call that thing around the safety by I told you month over month, what is happening in the mix? Would you care to know, what would it be worth to you? Now here's the fun part. Besides that, you can find out exactly what's going on inside of the world of safety. There's also other information available there stuff that you can start using as early as today. How about you give us a look? Go to our website safety FM plus dot com that safety FM plus dot com to find out what exactly is going on inside of the world of safety around the world of safety and inside of the world of safety. And don't forget to tell them that J. Allen sent you. I'll see you on the other side to join the Revolution, and we are back on the J. Allen Show on safety FM. So in what? What time terrain are we talking about? So, roughly, when did you come up with the idea and then say, Okay, we're gonna launch here
[00:20:14] spk_0: Well, for the podcast, it was after we started the business. I just felt, um but I wanted to do something more for for safety professionals really focusing on more on safety professionals because I really had that. That that drive to make our industry or are our professional better than it is?
[00:20:32] spk_1: So when do you come across the mayor of podcasts? Down. I have seen that moniker on LinkedIn. I loved it when I found him. But when did you come across him?
[00:20:41] spk_0: Well, L c Who is the mayor? He's the one that set us all along. And, um, he's out of Milwaukee. We're actually out of Appleton. And so my wife and I drive up there once a month, and we record them, uh, with it. And l c does all the work, so I have no idea how he does things.
[00:21:00] spk_1: So how does the title come about? Because it's a plague on several different things, Ted. Of course, you. But also, you can confuse it with Ted talk, and then there's a speaks portion, and then there's the life. But it's a podcast. The podcast is not live unless you're streaming. And if you're streaming, then you're doing radio. So why How did you come up with the title?
[00:21:21] spk_0: Well, my wife came up with that. She, uh she she like that. You know, the 10 speaks. She likes that, um because I speak a
[00:21:31] spk_1: lot. That you have
[00:21:35] spk_0: the live on there because we also do something on blood House with that. And so we also wanted to eventually grow into an area where people can call in for an hour or something like that. And we can just talk about different safety issues. Perhaps that you know, like you're having jail at your company or Bob's having at his company or Sarah's having her come, you know, And and maybe there's enough people on You know what? I've dealt with that before. This is all you need, you know. And so we're trying to create that type of network.
[00:22:02] spk_1: So for the people that are not familiar with clubhouse, and of course, it is a social media platform that's available in Apple, can you give them a little bit explanation on exactly how how it actually works?
[00:22:12] spk_0: Sure, Um, clubhouse is a app that you can pretty much go onto and listen to any any type of subject that you want. One thing I noticed on there work quickly. Nobody doing safe, you know, on there. So I looked at that as an opportunity for us to perhaps be able to talk to other safety professionals. And so the unfortunate part is right now, and I think the switch that over but is that you have to have an iPhone four. Um, if you don't have an iPhone, you can. But I think that boy, I think that's gonna be changing here the next month or so, and so people will call in. And all of this is, um, voice over talking back and forth, you know? So if somebody's on there, I'll be on the stage for an example. I can bring somebody on the talk, and then we can have open conversations, and that's what I really like about that is it's alive. Feature. It's on right right now. And kind of so
[00:23:07] spk_1: just a couple of questions just to kind of clarify to some of the people that might be out there. So would you almost consider it like old CB radios in regards of that kind of aspect, or even like a a o l chat room per
[00:23:18] spk_0: se, right? Yeah, I think
[00:23:20] spk_1: with the voice, though with the voice, of course. So it's
[00:23:23] spk_0: just voice, and you have a picture that goes up there and you talk and you can leave the room whenever you want. You know, it's kind of nice that way. Um, it's just an opportunity to, uh if you have a frustrating day if you want to share some great ideas. Um, it's just a great, great, uh platform to have multi multiple people in there and really kind of networking, since we can't really do that as much right now with all this going.
[00:23:46] spk_1: So now do you have a set time that your show airs on clubhouse? So, do you have, like, a particular day or do you just do it kind of base of announcement? Because I've seen some of the clubhouse aspects where people are on 5 30 in the morning till 8 30 in the morning. Where is this kind of a continuing conversation? So how is yours currently set up?
[00:24:02] spk_0: Well, currently, we are set up for Monday's at two o'clock central standard time, and we've been doing that now for probably about two months, and so we're gonna That's our time slot that we have. It's not necessarily the best one. Mondays at two o'clock aren't always the best, but we're finding that people are really enjoying the show And, you know, what we do is we talk about current social issues or any issues that somebody may have. You know, um, and then looking at any recent citations. So we try to keep the conversation flowing on different on different things.
[00:24:37] spk_1: So now do you ever take any of the clubhouse stuff and make it become a show? I know that you said that you normally go up to the mayor once a month, but do you ever take any of that content and converted over?
[00:24:46] spk_0: Well, you know, yesterday it was the 1st 1st time that we did something we have. We released a new podcast today, and on that I had Pat Carroll, Who is our guests on there? Actually came on. Yeah, yes. Very tremendous story.
[00:25:03] spk_1: Yeah, I love the Delta story. He said Delta when he was on the show. So I feel that I can get away with saying it
[00:25:09] spk_0: now. A tremendous amount of knowledge, but he came out of the clubhouse yesterday, you know, and did some talking and talked about what we're gonna talk about today on the show. So, um, we're looking at more bringing the people that are on the podcast the day before and kind of just talking about it and see if people have questions or anything.
[00:25:32] spk_1: Very cool. Very cool. So and then on your podcast as well, you do something over the weekend. So you did say that you that you released an episode today on Tuesday you had something going on with with Pat previously. But then on over the weekend, you kind of do. We'll call it a re release or rebroadcast or re reference to a previous podcast, and it's for people to go back. Could kind of go to make sure that your catalog is active. So you're you're doing that and you're putting focus on certain items on there. How How is that working out for you are you are getting a lot of feedback on some of the older catalog and we say older. Of course we're talking over. You know, you're talking about less than a year but older catalog. But how are how are you seeing that working out for if you don't mind me asking?
[00:26:16] spk_0: Yeah. Great question. It has worked out really well for us. Um, we called the Saturday rewind, uh, which
[00:26:24] spk_1: which some people might not know what rewind even means. So I
[00:26:31] spk_0: experienced people.
[00:26:32] spk_1: I don't know if his experience, I just had been around in this stuff. We're way too long. Probably
[00:26:40] spk_0: That's just the way I like to say.
[00:26:41] spk_1: Well, yeah. I mean, the way that I look at it is when I start looking at some of the professional broadcasters that I looked at and they're either passing away or retiring, I go, Yeah, I think I have to start realizing that I am becoming old at this particular point in my life. So as you're seeing this and you're going forward with everything, um what are you enjoying the most? Are you enjoying the consulting? Are you enjoying the podcasting? And I mean, you've got quite a bit going on. Are you enjoying the clubhouse? What do you enjoy the most out of all three aspects?
[00:27:11] spk_0: You know, Jay, that's a great question.
[00:27:13] spk_1: And it's like, which is your favorite child, which is your favorite child? I just asked you that out loud. I
[00:27:18] spk_0: tell her I tell everybody I only work half days, 12 hours days. You know, they seem like two hour days to me. I just I'm so fortunate and been so blessed, um, to be able to have the passion, um, a little bit of knowledge, and, uh, I just love everything about it. I love being able to develop safety professionals. I love being able to go on. The companies have companies look at safety. Safety is very important. But also, there's a huge financial gain that a lot of companies, I think, miss, if they don't do it to me, safety is about a profit center can be a profit center if you do it correctly. And so it can make a difference. Some passionate about making sure businesses understand that. And then, lastly, with the clubhouse, the clubhouse is exciting because I get to touch base with a lot of people I probably haven't seen in a while, um, and get to learn more people and and and look at safety. You know what's going on in safety world in different industries, and so that's what's kind of excited about all three of them. So to answer your question without answering your first,
[00:28:15] spk_1: so you did bring up something that I find very important, you did refer to safety as a profit center. And let's be realistic. Most of the times when you interact with most companies, they in general, not you in particular, they do refer to it as a cost center. So how do you make the transition when you're speaking to the people in management inside of an organization? For them to understand that it's a profit center and not so much a cost center?
[00:28:42] spk_0: Yeah, that's a good question. And one thing I think it's important. When I started with the construction company that that I was telling you about, we were we were paying out workers Comp $1.2 million a year Justin Workers Comp doing about $85 million in business. That sounds very good. By the time I left, we were doing about 285 paying $225,000. That right there is just kind of show you what a company can do if you do it and implement it right. It takes a while. It takes a process, but what happens is that you're also creating culture. Once you start creating a culture, people are starting to work together. They understand what you're trying to do at the end of the day where all three of the wheels are working together quality, production and safety. And they all have to work together to have that success. So I've seen it happen. I've worked at another company, the exact same thing. So I'm very passionate about making sure number one people are safe. But number two that we can have a return on dollar. And so I always say, you know, 4 to 1. This was just a lot of people say 4 to 1. But I think it's actually even higher than that when you throw a lot of the indirect costs in there.
[00:29:49] spk_1: So, of course, when you bring up numbers and you talk about your past experience and you're talking to organizations, normally that very odd question comes out that goes like this. What is the time frame that we're going to see results like that. So how do you handle that?
[00:30:03] spk_0: Yeah, you know, And that's that's a good question, because that's something people want to know right away. Right? Um, I think when you when you look at that, um, it all depends on every situation. All that kind of stuff is different. But once you start a plan, you form a plan and you start creating a culture. You can you can really turn things around. I believe within that three years process to get that going because it takes awhile, right? I mean, people aren't gonna want to change automatically. Cultures just don't change. And we all know that. And so I always try to be honest with them and look at say, Hey, you know, it's gonna be a little bit of a process, but you're going to see changes. You're going to see changes as we go along and it's gonna be a really neat ride. It's not necessarily just gonna be on safety because your production also improves because you have happier workers, workers that understand what they're doing versus asking questions. And at the end of the day, you're going to be able to improve the bottom line company while keeping employees safe.
[00:31:01] spk_1: So when you get contacted and you go into an organization, are they asking you to change the culture? Are they asking you to change the safety culture
[00:31:10] spk_0: Well, in a lot of the clients up that we have right now, they're they're more or less looking at. Hey, what do we need to do to make sure we can get by? You know, I'm from the ocean standpoint, and so that's where we go in and do it. Let's try to help them understand the importance of what we just talked about, making sure that we have the production quality and safety are working together, but also that it's not just about the OSHA standard, because jazz, you know what I know is just as well as I do. You got every ocean standard, um, completely done correctly and still getting people hurt. You know that that that is a reality. And so we have to look beyond that. We have to think about what's best for the company and how we're going to ensure that your employees are going home safe each of our day while improving the bottom line.
[00:31:57] spk_1: So as you're seeing all of this and you're getting to interact with these companies and you're kind of giving a rough guesstimate of what the timeline might be and you're seeing what's working, what do you see with everything that's been going on over the last year and changes inside of the industry on how we're looking at work. What do you think? Some of the changes you might see coming. I know I'm asking the crystal ball question, but what do you think that you will be need to be focusing on here? Let's say over the next six months
[00:32:22] spk_0: Well, I think that right now, you know, if you're just looking at enforcement from OSHA, you know, that stimulus package $100 million into the ocean and there they have a plan. They have a plan that they're going to come in and, of course, enforce. They're gonna be looking at a lot of different issues. And I think that companies have to be prepared for that because, um, they're hiring more people. It's gonna take a year. So for them to get a lot of those people in place, But they're going to be going through a lot more enforcement. So you have to be ready for that. And as an organization, do you have that paperwork done? A lot of the organizations that we've worked with in the past and I've worked with at other places don't understand the importance of written, you know you can do something, but if it's not written down, it's not taken care of properly. It doesn't mean so. I think right now the main focus is probably within that. And then number two, obviously always taking care of the employees. You know, uh, it's hard to keep employees nowadays. Employees are leaving some of these jobs very quickly, So if we can keep them safe knowing that they're safe, knowing their family knows that they're going to work and they're going to return to work that's huge for a company be able to have a return on investment
[00:33:31] spk_1: Well, and you did bring up something very important there because back in what I will say the golden years it was, companies offered pensions, and they offered other things for you to stay there at long term. So if I was a vested employee who had been there 20 to 40 years, there was normally a pension waiting at the end. That's not so much the case nowadays. So how do you look at companies are able to retain talent for them not to be the quick turnaround with a lot of the things that you see.
[00:34:00] spk_0: Yeah, you know, And that's really a great battle, right? J. I mean, it's hard getting employees right now to come come to work on a consistent basis. But what I try to tell the employers when I work, we work with them is I say, you know, if if they're going to work, they know that they're gonna be going home safe, they're gonna be making their money. I always told employees that I work with is, you know, there's two important days every day of the week. Number one, the day that you get to go home every day and number two is you get your paycheck on time. Everything else is a bonus, you know. And I think that's something that is really important for all employees to know because you know, they have families. Every everybody has their own issues. Everybody has their own things going on, right? I work to live, I don't live to work, and I think all of our employees are very similar to that. So if we can keep them focused on what they're doing, um, it's not an easy task. And it's not a crystal ball like you were saying right, But I think it's something that if employees know that their company organization cares for them, they are much more likely to stay there and even get paid less than in some circumstances because they know somebody cares about them and they can make a difference
[00:35:10] spk_1: Now. You know how many employers are thinking about that? It's like we can pay them less. How is that going to work? But that's the truth. You did say something there that I think is a golden nugget that people tend to think about it of. I work to live, not live to work. Did I say that backwards? I might have said that backwards, But think about it in that particular fashion for just a moment when people think about it. Most of the times when you're inside of this particular profession that you and I are in, it's we. Most of us just work, work, work, work, work and then live on occasions until you kind of get it. There's a moment in time that it goes, and then it's like maybe I'm doing this backwards. So at what point do you think that you looked at it and it clicked for you.
[00:35:48] spk_0: Well, I think we're for me personally. I think it was for when we started having kids. You know, you look at life a lot differently. I think when we're all young, we all think there's no way. If things are gonna happen to me,
[00:36:00] spk_1: I'm indestructible.
[00:36:01] spk_0: Uh, as time goes on, you start. You know what? It's not about me. It's not about, you know that it's about other things. And it's about, you know, being able to support and all of those type of issues that come in. And I think for me, I start that I started getting that, and then I started going. You know what? I have employees that are working for us all over the country. They have the exact same, I think so. I think that's kind of where I started is the kids will definitely silver. Yeah,
[00:36:32] spk_1: that will definitely do the trick. It's always interesting because people talk about that transition of when you have kids on how the world changes. But until you go through the experience like what are you talking about?
[00:36:44] spk_0: It's very true, J. I mean, once you have the kids and stuff like that. You appreciate that. Some days you don't.
[00:36:50] spk_1: I don't know if we're supposed to put that on recording, but it already happened. Well, Ted, if people want to know more about you and what you have going on work and they find out some more information
[00:36:59] spk_0: Sure. Thank you. You can find us on, uh, on our website, which is health and safety now dot com You can go there and find out information or elective Ted Karoo. Um
[00:37:14] spk_1: I'm like, Well, Ted, I do appreciate you coming on to the show today. Hey, I appreciate you,
[00:37:18] spk_0: uh, having me on the show. This was really fun and exciting to be able to talk to you. I think you're doing. You're doing
[00:37:23] spk_1: tremendously great things here, Jay.
[00:37:25] spk_0: And I really appreciate the opportunity.
[00:37:28] spk_1: Safety FM changing safety cultures What? One broadcast and one podcast at a time. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the host and its guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company. Examples of analysis discussed within this podcast are only examples. It should not be utilized in the real world as the only solution available as they are based only on very limited in dated open source information. Assumptions made within this analysis are not reflective of the position of the company. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the creator of the podcast, Jay Allen.
Thanks to Safety FM+ for sponsoring this episode of The Jay Allen Show.
[00:00:03] spk_1: this show is brought to you by Safety FM. Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the J. Allen show. Thank you for coming out one more time to hang out to see exactly what we have going on here today. Anyway, thank you For all of the responses from the episode of last week with Emily Kunis like to hear that a lot of you seem to enjoy it anyways, before we get too deep into this episode. Today, I want to talk about some things that we have going on right away. If you have not entered into our latest contest, let me tell you about it real quick. It's the contest where we're giving away a ticket to go to the accident investigation theory in practice hosted by Nippon AnAnd and Todd Conklin. If you want to enter into our give away, all you have to do is go to safety FM dot com forward slash contest that safety FM dot com forward slash contest We're giving away a ticket that will get you to go to both sessions, the one hosted by Todd Conklin and nipping himself. So if you want to enter like I said, Go to safety FM dot com forward slash contest. Anyways, let's talk about some of the things that we have going on today. I have been recently hanging out on social media, and I was able to find this very interesting podcast titled Ted Speaks Live. So of course, with that being the case, I decided to reach out to Ted himself and say, Hey, let's sit down, have a conversation and let's talk about what you have going on with inside of the industry of safety. So that's where the conversation starts today, with me and Ted having a conversation about how he got into safety and everything else that we can talk about. Enjoy it here now on. The J. Allen Joe Show is streaming now on safety FM dot life Thank you. I mean, I have to tell you, I was looking around on LinkedIn and you popped up and I was like, I'm always interested in what other people are doing. And of course, when I bring somebody onto the show, it normally starts off with the simplest question becomes the most difficult question sometimes and is why did you decide to get into the world of safety.
[00:02:20] spk_0: Yeah. You know, safety has been something. I went to college. A lot of people don't realize that because I talk to people. Don't think I do go to college. But I went to college and I actually graduated in law enforcement.
[00:02:32] spk_1: That's not endorsing. That's not endorsing at the University of Wisconsin by you saying that. You know that, right? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:02:42] spk_0: And I was fortunate enough to get a job in law. And I was a police officer for a couple of years, and I really enjoyed always being able to help people. But a law enforcement was just so I wanted to be The Barney fights in the area. I was that, you
[00:02:56] spk_1: know, some hold on based on age demo. Some people might not know exactly what that means. So you have to keep that in consideration too.
[00:03:03] spk_0: You know, that's very true. Barney Fife was many years ago, was a law enforcement officer that tried to, uh, be everybody's friend, but also enforce the rules. And so, um, that's kind of what we tried. I tried to do, and I really enjoyed that. But I was fortunate enough to get a job at a hospital and become a safety and, um, a security officer. And I really was all of those mobile security part. But then I started learning the hospital side of things in the safety and what it really can do and make an impact on people's lives. And then from there we got a job as a safety consultant where I became working with a lot of different companies and learning how the general industry worked. I was just fascinated by how they have policies, procedures, respirators, all that type of stuff. And I saw I really got started to enjoy that more and more. Unfortunately, I got a, uh, an offer from a construction company that was one of my clients and said, Hey, come on board here and, uh, working safety and travel all over the country and help people. And so I did that for a while, and I was fortunate enough to build my way up through that company and become safety director.
[00:04:18] spk_1: Well, hang on. Before we get all the way down there, we'll take it step by step. So don't don't go too far, because this is where I'm kind of curious. So what caused you to want? So you went to school for criminal justice. You decide that as you're going through it, you just that you become a police officer. There's some things that you liked. But why did you decide to leave the force? What is it that the thrills you so much about? Safety there was like, Hey, I've already I've already actually put in four years going to school for it that you said, Hey, let's go ahead and do the change. I mean, because that's a big step.
[00:04:49] spk_0: It is, you know, and I think both of them are very familiar because they're helping people, right? Both of them are to make people safer and that with law enforcement, you're dealing with a certain population all the time. You know, when you're a law enforcement officer and next to be tough and it really changes, you know, you're working three different shifts. I could be working a night shift and you got to go to court and all that kind of stuff. So, as a family developing a family, bringing a family, uh, it was tough, you know? So my wife and I just made the decision that We just didn't want to do the three shifts. Change it around, go to court and all that kind of stuff that we're all involved with, It being a police officer. Um, I highly respect the police officers. They do a great job, but it just wasn't something that I felt comfortable doing my whole career. And so
[00:05:34] spk_1: So So how does that transition work for you? Because I would understand, I would probably imagine. And this is just me imagining. Of course, there has to be some difficulty from going from an armed officer day in and day out to going into a security guard aspect. Even though you're you're still doing, you know, you're helping people to an extent, but there's a huge difference between the two. So how was the adapting of that? As you as you started to move forward?
[00:05:58] spk_0: Well, I think you know, very similar to what we do in safety, right, Jay? Um, is that it's all about people. So you have to be able to work with people. If you can't work with people, you're not gonna be successful. I don't care what you and so it was just being able to adjust and work with people and and treat them fair and honestly, you know, And I think once you do that, do that consistently in the security people, you get that where people understand what you're trying to do.
[00:06:24] spk_1: So what did the people from the force tell you at the time? I mean, what did your fellow officers tell you when you say, Hey, I'm going to leave and I'm going into the security job. Do they think that you have lost it for a few minutes?
[00:06:34] spk_0: Yeah,
[00:06:35] spk_1: they
[00:06:37] spk_0: definitely did. You know, um, but I had a lot of I still have a lot of good friends that are police officers working and stuff like that and years down the road, they always seem to have done it. So you know, that kind of thing.
[00:06:51] spk_1: So do you ever do you ever miss the force? And I know that, you know, your family played a concept into it, and I don't ever want to go back and go. I should've Could've would've but do you ever miss being in the force?
[00:07:01] spk_0: Um, yeah, and some some days I do. You know, there are those days that are But I'm very happy with the choice that my wife and I made, you know, going into the safety rules because I found that safety has been such an enjoyable passion of mine that I really don't look back at it.
[00:07:19] spk_1: So when you talk about changing careers, what are we talking about? Years wise, Like what year are we talking, give or take that you decided to make the transition from leaving law enforcement to going into full time safety.
[00:07:30] spk_0: Yeah, it was probably in the
[00:07:31] spk_1: late nineties. Late nineties. So we're talking late nineties, so you're having over a 20 year plus career. So as you go into this construction company, well, let's get to the construction company. I know you said you worked as a security guard at the side of the health industry, but as you get to the construction company, how do you get into that? Because, I mean, that's one heck of a change going from going from law enforcement to then security to now construction. I mean, we're talking about a world of difference here.
[00:07:57] spk_0: Yeah, you know, you're right, J. It was a big difference. Um, was not eye opener for me. I'll be very honest with. But I think the way that works for me is, um, as I was saying, that being as I was safety coordinator before that for a local company and one of my clients was this construction company. And so they said, Hey, you should come to work for me and they threw. You know, what we all like is the money, right?
[00:08:21] spk_1: Right. Opportunity
[00:08:23] spk_0: and not really thinking about it too much. And so I I jumped into it, and, uh, I learned a lot on the job very quickly. How to work with people. Um uh, and this is when safety still wasn't where it is today. It was kind of just the start of it. And, um, people were not, very, uh, understanding of being able to switch the way they were doing things right.
[00:08:45] spk_1: So right then or is it still the blame and Shame game? I mean, let's say let's be realistic to this extent, Um, it's still a curse today, but is that the case at the time? Is that what you're still seeing? I mean, a little bit heavier involved the workers to blame in that particular regards as you're starting off your career.
[00:09:02] spk_0: Yeah. You know, I think when we start off, we're always looking at you know what happened. You know, why did this happen? And we were really weren't looking at. Oh, maybe it was us not doing something properly right. Maybe we weren't setting them up to be successful. And so that was something I learned early in my career. You know, um, that we had to get better.
[00:09:22] spk_1: So at what point during your career do people start turning around and go the positive safety coach? Because it's a very interesting moniker and normally not something that's really normally associated to safety. There's either a safety coach. There is like, uh, any other kind of coach with safety, but normally, not positive is not the word that ties in. So how do you end up getting with us?
[00:09:43] spk_0: That's a great question, Jay. Well, I I've always been a very positive, optimistic individual. I I love working with people. I'm very enthusiastic. I'm a morning person, right? What? I learned on that very first job that we were kind of talking about. This is a dirty old foundry. It was nothing really good about it every day, every day you go home and got stuff in your eyes and all that kind of stuff, and you worked with guys that are a little unhappy. But if you show them a little bit of kindness and you'll be able to work with them, um, they can really take that safety to another level, not even know it sometimes. And that's really what I enjoy. Doing with them was being able to keep things optimistic, fun, you know, and looking at it. Hey, you know what you know, or just making little jokes here and there and keeping people putting a smile on their face. And then now they're thinking about Oh, maybe Ted's not as bad as he appears to be.
[00:10:34] spk_1: You know, Maybe
[00:10:35] spk_0: maybe maybe this safety stuff isn't all that bad, you know, because pointing at people in town and what they're doing wrong, it's not what they want to hear, so they want to hear some some positiveness. And so I learned that very early in my career that that positive works a matter of fact, the vice president, uh, who was interviewing before I took that job, and he's like you know. I don't know if you're gonna work. You're much too positive.
[00:10:58] spk_1: So So then let me ask the strange question as you go into it and people are saying how positive you are. Well, it's some. It's some versions of safety Some people refer to the safety department is the safety comes. I'm sure that you didn't look at that as a negative light at the time. Because you like the law enforcement. You're doing something that you're enjoying because you're interacting with people. So and people are seeing you in a positive and a positive sector, which is kind of odd for safety back in the day. Not so much. Now, how are you looking at this at the time? I mean, how how are you adapting? Are they looking at you more as an operational guy? And then to add on top of that being, as you had not been in the construction field, how does that go? Because you know how it is from time to time people. There are people that are out in the field. Go. I know more than what this guy is telling me. So why is Ted telling me what to do when I have X amount of years of experience.
[00:11:50] spk_0: Well, I mean, that's another good question. You know, when I went out to the projects and stuff, You're right, people. Look at Hey, you've never done construction. What do you know about this stuff? And they're right. And I tell him that I said, Well, then how would you do this? You ask them the question back, and then what you find out is that they're going to tell you they're gonna brag about it for a while, and they say, Okay, well, and so what I always did was versus playing the safety cop. I play the dumb cop.
[00:12:13] spk_1: I don't
[00:12:14] spk_0: understand how this works. I let them tell me how the solution, and then they got it. Now what happens is they're telling everybody else. I showed Ted exactly what needed to be done, and he agreed with. Now I have. Now I have a salesperson that's selling our product, which is safe,
[00:12:29] spk_1: right? So essentially you have a you have will say, a cheerleader, an influencer and advocate. That's out there because hey, he agreed with what I had to say
[00:12:38] spk_0: exactly. Yep. Yep. We have a cheerleader going out there and saying, Hey, you know what I told Ted or I told that person, you know, now we're gonna This is the way we're going to do it because I came up with it, and that's exactly what you want.
[00:12:49] spk_1: So when you kind of look at the will, call the different religions of safety, that's my wording, not anybody else's. I don't want to misconstrue anything. Do you lean heavier towards one side of the house and the other Do you lean towards the leans or the BBS or the hops of the world? Or what exactly do you kind of center a lot of your safety solutions around?
[00:13:08] spk_0: Well, you know, I've done a lot of education a lot. A lot of those different ones. So I take a little bit bits and pieces that fit me naturally, I guess.
[00:13:16] spk_1: Uh, so your non denomination. Okay, I got you. Exactly. I
[00:13:21] spk_0: really do believe in that. Because you still have to make it about your personality. What works for you and what I found that works for me is kind of a combination of a lot of different ones. You use a little bit of behavior based. Look at the safety, um, system information systems. Um, look at those little little different ones and using them and growing people through there. So not really one way or another, like you said not.
[00:13:43] spk_1: So let's jump around a little bit. We're gonna skip over the next kind of sequence of work that you do. Not that I'm saying that it's not important, but you do. And you do another kind of senior high level job coming up next after the construction job. So once you go into this next thing that you decide, Hey, I'm going out on my own. Why all of a sudden going from a corporation to saying, Hey, I'm going to take a risk on myself.
[00:14:08] spk_0: Well, thank you. Yeah, that's that's another good question. People ask me that question, J, um, and the reason why I think you kind of look at it from changing from law enforcement to safety a little bit. I really, um I have always wanted to start my own business in several aspects, you know, and I just have always had that urge, But I've always had reasons why not to, um, you know Maybe it's insurance. Maybe it's this or maybe it's not. And so I just got to a point in my career. I said, Well, this is now, you know I need to do it and I need to push forward. I'm trying to start my own A company and being able to do the things that I thought my head always would work Well, so now I get to put the rubber to the road.
[00:14:47] spk_1: So now that you're putting the rubber to the road, But you do this during a very, very interesting time, if I may add, we're talking a month pre pandemic, give or take from what I could find. So I mean, of course, you're you don't You're not a fortune teller. So you're not gonna be able to know that this is what's going into to the effect. But all of a sudden, this occurs what's going through your mind when you decided to take the risk on yourself. And this is all going on because the world has changed?
[00:15:15] spk_0: Well, you know that. That's another question on on that, because a lot of people ask you that too, You know, I look at it was just an opportunity right now for me to do it. And I do feel that there's a lot of, um, opportunity now with the new the new administration coming in, Um, there's gonna be different things. I think there's a lot of contractors, uh, and companies that are going to need a lot of help. And so in looking over the market in this local area, I really felt that there's an opportunity there to start the business and and be able to perform, um, great services or organizations.
[00:15:54] spk_1: So pre pandemic, what's the plan with the business is just to take the dive, because keep in mind, we're still talking old administration at the time. We're not talking anything about covid. So what's the plan for your business as you're starting it up at the time? So what do you what? Because you have to have a niche. I mean, any time you go into this thing, you have a niche. So what's the niche at the time? Because we're talking now future tense or what's going on Currently at the time in February before you launch, what were you thinking about going after?
[00:16:20] spk_0: Well, there's two things that we really I really wanted to accomplish. Number one was go after our niche market, which was the small and medium sized construction companies. We really feel that that 20 to 200 unemployed, uh, is really where our niches being able to help those companies because I think in construction is very unique. The EMR so important to those companies And a lot of these smaller companies don't understand that concept or understand that until until a little bit later and then they can't figure out why they can't compete with the other contractors.
[00:16:51] spk_1: Well, they realize how important it is after they've got turned down for a contract. Is normally how it goes.
[00:16:57] spk_0: Yeah, and several of them. And now they're rates are going higher and they just can't compete, you know? And now, as you know, Jay, we gotta wait three or four years to get that thing down and stuff like that. So I really want to go. I feel that there's a need for these contractors in that niche market to understand that EMR how that is a business sense, right? Um, because that's what it's about is being able to keep their costs down and E. M. R is just one of the many things that, as you know, that we can offer for companies to make sure that they're addressing those issues. Because in construction, it's the difference between getting a job and not getting the job.
[00:17:33] spk_1: Absolutely. And you might be riding the pine for quite some time, depending on that number. So at this particular point, as you're going through this, at what point does all of a sudden you turn around and go? I have an idea. Ted speaks live podcast. I'm gonna ask you about the title here in a moment, but at what point do you decide? This is where I need to go next?
[00:17:56] spk_0: Well, I've always I've been very fortunate my career. I've been able to mentor a lot of safety professionals, and I really enjoy doing that. Being able to talk to them, be able to help them understand the book, but more important, how to deal with people. And I've always enjoyed that, and one thing that I think that I wanted to do was I know there's a lot of safety professionals that are out there that don't get the support that I have been fortunate in my career to get, you know, and that sometimes they looked at Hey, why don't you get this done quicker or, you know, you gotta do it this way. If you don't do it this way, we don't need you anymore. And so I wanted to be able to take experiences from professionals all over the country all over the world and see how we can help. So just by listening to a podcast, um, and for a 20 minute podcast, understand? Oh, this is how he dealt with this issue. This is how they dealt with this issue. Or she dealt with this issue. Um, just something that that people can listen to and get a little bit of dollars And maybe if they get into this situation
[00:18:59] spk_1: Hey, have you ever wanted to hear what's going on around in the world of safety and you're not able to do so? Have you ever wanted to take a listen to what exactly is going around in the world of safety? What if we call that thing around the safety by I told you month over month, what is happening in the mix? Would you care to know, what would it be worth to you? Now here's the fun part. Besides that, you can find out exactly what's going on inside of the world of safety. There's also other information available there stuff that you can start using as early as today. How about you give us a look? Go to our website safety FM plus dot com that safety FM plus dot com to find out what exactly is going on inside of the world of safety around the world of safety and inside of the world of safety. And don't forget to tell them that J. Allen sent you. I'll see you on the other side to join the Revolution, and we are back on the J. Allen Show on safety FM. So in what? What time terrain are we talking about? So, roughly, when did you come up with the idea and then say, Okay, we're gonna launch here
[00:20:14] spk_0: Well, for the podcast, it was after we started the business. I just felt, um but I wanted to do something more for for safety professionals really focusing on more on safety professionals because I really had that. That that drive to make our industry or are our professional better than it is?
[00:20:32] spk_1: So when do you come across the mayor of podcasts? Down. I have seen that moniker on LinkedIn. I loved it when I found him. But when did you come across him?
[00:20:41] spk_0: Well, L c Who is the mayor? He's the one that set us all along. And, um, he's out of Milwaukee. We're actually out of Appleton. And so my wife and I drive up there once a month, and we record them, uh, with it. And l c does all the work, so I have no idea how he does things.
[00:21:00] spk_1: So how does the title come about? Because it's a plague on several different things, Ted. Of course, you. But also, you can confuse it with Ted talk, and then there's a speaks portion, and then there's the life. But it's a podcast. The podcast is not live unless you're streaming. And if you're streaming, then you're doing radio. So why How did you come up with the title?
[00:21:21] spk_0: Well, my wife came up with that. She, uh she she like that. You know, the 10 speaks. She likes that, um because I speak a
[00:21:31] spk_1: lot. That you have
[00:21:35] spk_0: the live on there because we also do something on blood House with that. And so we also wanted to eventually grow into an area where people can call in for an hour or something like that. And we can just talk about different safety issues. Perhaps that you know, like you're having jail at your company or Bob's having at his company or Sarah's having her come, you know, And and maybe there's enough people on You know what? I've dealt with that before. This is all you need, you know. And so we're trying to create that type of network.
[00:22:02] spk_1: So for the people that are not familiar with clubhouse, and of course, it is a social media platform that's available in Apple, can you give them a little bit explanation on exactly how how it actually works?
[00:22:12] spk_0: Sure, Um, clubhouse is a app that you can pretty much go onto and listen to any any type of subject that you want. One thing I noticed on there work quickly. Nobody doing safe, you know, on there. So I looked at that as an opportunity for us to perhaps be able to talk to other safety professionals. And so the unfortunate part is right now, and I think the switch that over but is that you have to have an iPhone four. Um, if you don't have an iPhone, you can. But I think that boy, I think that's gonna be changing here the next month or so, and so people will call in. And all of this is, um, voice over talking back and forth, you know? So if somebody's on there, I'll be on the stage for an example. I can bring somebody on the talk, and then we can have open conversations, and that's what I really like about that is it's alive. Feature. It's on right right now. And kind of so
[00:23:07] spk_1: just a couple of questions just to kind of clarify to some of the people that might be out there. So would you almost consider it like old CB radios in regards of that kind of aspect, or even like a a o l chat room per
[00:23:18] spk_0: se, right? Yeah, I think
[00:23:20] spk_1: with the voice, though with the voice, of course. So it's
[00:23:23] spk_0: just voice, and you have a picture that goes up there and you talk and you can leave the room whenever you want. You know, it's kind of nice that way. Um, it's just an opportunity to, uh if you have a frustrating day if you want to share some great ideas. Um, it's just a great, great, uh platform to have multi multiple people in there and really kind of networking, since we can't really do that as much right now with all this going.
[00:23:46] spk_1: So now do you have a set time that your show airs on clubhouse? So, do you have, like, a particular day or do you just do it kind of base of announcement? Because I've seen some of the clubhouse aspects where people are on 5 30 in the morning till 8 30 in the morning. Where is this kind of a continuing conversation? So how is yours currently set up?
[00:24:02] spk_0: Well, currently, we are set up for Monday's at two o'clock central standard time, and we've been doing that now for probably about two months, and so we're gonna That's our time slot that we have. It's not necessarily the best one. Mondays at two o'clock aren't always the best, but we're finding that people are really enjoying the show And, you know, what we do is we talk about current social issues or any issues that somebody may have. You know, um, and then looking at any recent citations. So we try to keep the conversation flowing on different on different things.
[00:24:37] spk_1: So now do you ever take any of the clubhouse stuff and make it become a show? I know that you said that you normally go up to the mayor once a month, but do you ever take any of that content and converted over?
[00:24:46] spk_0: Well, you know, yesterday it was the 1st 1st time that we did something we have. We released a new podcast today, and on that I had Pat Carroll, Who is our guests on there? Actually came on. Yeah, yes. Very tremendous story.
[00:25:03] spk_1: Yeah, I love the Delta story. He said Delta when he was on the show. So I feel that I can get away with saying it
[00:25:09] spk_0: now. A tremendous amount of knowledge, but he came out of the clubhouse yesterday, you know, and did some talking and talked about what we're gonna talk about today on the show. So, um, we're looking at more bringing the people that are on the podcast the day before and kind of just talking about it and see if people have questions or anything.
[00:25:32] spk_1: Very cool. Very cool. So and then on your podcast as well, you do something over the weekend. So you did say that you that you released an episode today on Tuesday you had something going on with with Pat previously. But then on over the weekend, you kind of do. We'll call it a re release or rebroadcast or re reference to a previous podcast, and it's for people to go back. Could kind of go to make sure that your catalog is active. So you're you're doing that and you're putting focus on certain items on there. How How is that working out for you are you are getting a lot of feedback on some of the older catalog and we say older. Of course we're talking over. You know, you're talking about less than a year but older catalog. But how are how are you seeing that working out for if you don't mind me asking?
[00:26:16] spk_0: Yeah. Great question. It has worked out really well for us. Um, we called the Saturday rewind, uh, which
[00:26:24] spk_1: which some people might not know what rewind even means. So I
[00:26:31] spk_0: experienced people.
[00:26:32] spk_1: I don't know if his experience, I just had been around in this stuff. We're way too long. Probably
[00:26:40] spk_0: That's just the way I like to say.
[00:26:41] spk_1: Well, yeah. I mean, the way that I look at it is when I start looking at some of the professional broadcasters that I looked at and they're either passing away or retiring, I go, Yeah, I think I have to start realizing that I am becoming old at this particular point in my life. So as you're seeing this and you're going forward with everything, um what are you enjoying the most? Are you enjoying the consulting? Are you enjoying the podcasting? And I mean, you've got quite a bit going on. Are you enjoying the clubhouse? What do you enjoy the most out of all three aspects?
[00:27:11] spk_0: You know, Jay, that's a great question.
[00:27:13] spk_1: And it's like, which is your favorite child, which is your favorite child? I just asked you that out loud. I
[00:27:18] spk_0: tell her I tell everybody I only work half days, 12 hours days. You know, they seem like two hour days to me. I just I'm so fortunate and been so blessed, um, to be able to have the passion, um, a little bit of knowledge, and, uh, I just love everything about it. I love being able to develop safety professionals. I love being able to go on. The companies have companies look at safety. Safety is very important. But also, there's a huge financial gain that a lot of companies, I think, miss, if they don't do it to me, safety is about a profit center can be a profit center if you do it correctly. And so it can make a difference. Some passionate about making sure businesses understand that. And then, lastly, with the clubhouse, the clubhouse is exciting because I get to touch base with a lot of people I probably haven't seen in a while, um, and get to learn more people and and and look at safety. You know what's going on in safety world in different industries, and so that's what's kind of excited about all three of them. So to answer your question without answering your first,
[00:28:15] spk_1: so you did bring up something that I find very important, you did refer to safety as a profit center. And let's be realistic. Most of the times when you interact with most companies, they in general, not you in particular, they do refer to it as a cost center. So how do you make the transition when you're speaking to the people in management inside of an organization? For them to understand that it's a profit center and not so much a cost center?
[00:28:42] spk_0: Yeah, that's a good question. And one thing I think it's important. When I started with the construction company that that I was telling you about, we were we were paying out workers Comp $1.2 million a year Justin Workers Comp doing about $85 million in business. That sounds very good. By the time I left, we were doing about 285 paying $225,000. That right there is just kind of show you what a company can do if you do it and implement it right. It takes a while. It takes a process, but what happens is that you're also creating culture. Once you start creating a culture, people are starting to work together. They understand what you're trying to do at the end of the day where all three of the wheels are working together quality, production and safety. And they all have to work together to have that success. So I've seen it happen. I've worked at another company, the exact same thing. So I'm very passionate about making sure number one people are safe. But number two that we can have a return on dollar. And so I always say, you know, 4 to 1. This was just a lot of people say 4 to 1. But I think it's actually even higher than that when you throw a lot of the indirect costs in there.
[00:29:49] spk_1: So, of course, when you bring up numbers and you talk about your past experience and you're talking to organizations, normally that very odd question comes out that goes like this. What is the time frame that we're going to see results like that. So how do you handle that?
[00:30:03] spk_0: Yeah, you know, And that's that's a good question, because that's something people want to know right away. Right? Um, I think when you when you look at that, um, it all depends on every situation. All that kind of stuff is different. But once you start a plan, you form a plan and you start creating a culture. You can you can really turn things around. I believe within that three years process to get that going because it takes awhile, right? I mean, people aren't gonna want to change automatically. Cultures just don't change. And we all know that. And so I always try to be honest with them and look at say, Hey, you know, it's gonna be a little bit of a process, but you're going to see changes. You're going to see changes as we go along and it's gonna be a really neat ride. It's not necessarily just gonna be on safety because your production also improves because you have happier workers, workers that understand what they're doing versus asking questions. And at the end of the day, you're going to be able to improve the bottom line company while keeping employees safe.
[00:31:01] spk_1: So when you get contacted and you go into an organization, are they asking you to change the culture? Are they asking you to change the safety culture
[00:31:10] spk_0: Well, in a lot of the clients up that we have right now, they're they're more or less looking at. Hey, what do we need to do to make sure we can get by? You know, I'm from the ocean standpoint, and so that's where we go in and do it. Let's try to help them understand the importance of what we just talked about, making sure that we have the production quality and safety are working together, but also that it's not just about the OSHA standard, because jazz, you know what I know is just as well as I do. You got every ocean standard, um, completely done correctly and still getting people hurt. You know that that that is a reality. And so we have to look beyond that. We have to think about what's best for the company and how we're going to ensure that your employees are going home safe each of our day while improving the bottom line.
[00:31:57] spk_1: So as you're seeing all of this and you're getting to interact with these companies and you're kind of giving a rough guesstimate of what the timeline might be and you're seeing what's working, what do you see with everything that's been going on over the last year and changes inside of the industry on how we're looking at work. What do you think? Some of the changes you might see coming. I know I'm asking the crystal ball question, but what do you think that you will be need to be focusing on here? Let's say over the next six months
[00:32:22] spk_0: Well, I think that right now, you know, if you're just looking at enforcement from OSHA, you know, that stimulus package $100 million into the ocean and there they have a plan. They have a plan that they're going to come in and, of course, enforce. They're gonna be looking at a lot of different issues. And I think that companies have to be prepared for that because, um, they're hiring more people. It's gonna take a year. So for them to get a lot of those people in place, But they're going to be going through a lot more enforcement. So you have to be ready for that. And as an organization, do you have that paperwork done? A lot of the organizations that we've worked with in the past and I've worked with at other places don't understand the importance of written, you know you can do something, but if it's not written down, it's not taken care of properly. It doesn't mean so. I think right now the main focus is probably within that. And then number two, obviously always taking care of the employees. You know, uh, it's hard to keep employees nowadays. Employees are leaving some of these jobs very quickly, So if we can keep them safe knowing that they're safe, knowing their family knows that they're going to work and they're going to return to work that's huge for a company be able to have a return on investment
[00:33:31] spk_1: Well, and you did bring up something very important there because back in what I will say the golden years it was, companies offered pensions, and they offered other things for you to stay there at long term. So if I was a vested employee who had been there 20 to 40 years, there was normally a pension waiting at the end. That's not so much the case nowadays. So how do you look at companies are able to retain talent for them not to be the quick turnaround with a lot of the things that you see.
[00:34:00] spk_0: Yeah, you know, And that's really a great battle, right? J. I mean, it's hard getting employees right now to come come to work on a consistent basis. But what I try to tell the employers when I work, we work with them is I say, you know, if if they're going to work, they know that they're gonna be going home safe, they're gonna be making their money. I always told employees that I work with is, you know, there's two important days every day of the week. Number one, the day that you get to go home every day and number two is you get your paycheck on time. Everything else is a bonus, you know. And I think that's something that is really important for all employees to know because you know, they have families. Every everybody has their own issues. Everybody has their own things going on, right? I work to live, I don't live to work, and I think all of our employees are very similar to that. So if we can keep them focused on what they're doing, um, it's not an easy task. And it's not a crystal ball like you were saying right, But I think it's something that if employees know that their company organization cares for them, they are much more likely to stay there and even get paid less than in some circumstances because they know somebody cares about them and they can make a difference
[00:35:10] spk_1: Now. You know how many employers are thinking about that? It's like we can pay them less. How is that going to work? But that's the truth. You did say something there that I think is a golden nugget that people tend to think about it of. I work to live, not live to work. Did I say that backwards? I might have said that backwards, But think about it in that particular fashion for just a moment when people think about it. Most of the times when you're inside of this particular profession that you and I are in, it's we. Most of us just work, work, work, work, work and then live on occasions until you kind of get it. There's a moment in time that it goes, and then it's like maybe I'm doing this backwards. So at what point do you think that you looked at it and it clicked for you.
[00:35:48] spk_0: Well, I think we're for me personally. I think it was for when we started having kids. You know, you look at life a lot differently. I think when we're all young, we all think there's no way. If things are gonna happen to me,
[00:36:00] spk_1: I'm indestructible.
[00:36:01] spk_0: Uh, as time goes on, you start. You know what? It's not about me. It's not about, you know that it's about other things. And it's about, you know, being able to support and all of those type of issues that come in. And I think for me, I start that I started getting that, and then I started going. You know what? I have employees that are working for us all over the country. They have the exact same, I think so. I think that's kind of where I started is the kids will definitely silver. Yeah,
[00:36:32] spk_1: that will definitely do the trick. It's always interesting because people talk about that transition of when you have kids on how the world changes. But until you go through the experience like what are you talking about?
[00:36:44] spk_0: It's very true, J. I mean, once you have the kids and stuff like that. You appreciate that. Some days you don't.
[00:36:50] spk_1: I don't know if we're supposed to put that on recording, but it already happened. Well, Ted, if people want to know more about you and what you have going on work and they find out some more information
[00:36:59] spk_0: Sure. Thank you. You can find us on, uh, on our website, which is health and safety now dot com You can go there and find out information or elective Ted Karoo. Um
[00:37:14] spk_1: I'm like, Well, Ted, I do appreciate you coming on to the show today. Hey, I appreciate you,
[00:37:18] spk_0: uh, having me on the show. This was really fun and exciting to be able to talk to you. I think you're doing. You're doing
[00:37:23] spk_1: tremendously great things here, Jay.
[00:37:25] spk_0: And I really appreciate the opportunity.
[00:37:28] spk_1: Safety FM changing safety cultures What? One broadcast and one podcast at a time. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the host and its guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company. Examples of analysis discussed within this podcast are only examples. It should not be utilized in the real world as the only solution available as they are based only on very limited in dated open source information. Assumptions made within this analysis are not reflective of the position of the company. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the creator of the podcast, Jay Allen.
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