What does teaching Marines how to escape an upside-down helicopter sinking in water, have to do with corporate safety? 

Quite a lot in the case of Chris Moulden. 

In this episode of No Accident, host Kathleen Finato speaks with Chris who is Corporate Safety Director at ARB, a subsidiary of Primoris. On any given day, Chris — who is a two-time winner of the safety director of the year award — oversees between 35 to 45 safety professionals in the field.

Earlier in his career, Chris worked as an advanced dive medic for the Marines, teaching troops how to survive when their helicopter hits the water. Seeing the Marines return from war — sometimes injured — made a big impression on Chris. It has informed his approach to safety ever since.   

“We all come to work every day to make a couple of bucks. But that couple bucks is all it is unless you utilize it towards something that's really valuable to you, and for the most part that's usually our family and our friends,” Chris says reflecting on what has stuck with him. 

“If we don't cross the T's and dot the I's and use a checklist or do the things we know how to do ‘em … it's our family and our friends who are going to be affected the most.”

While Chris likes to point out that safety comes back to the heart, he’s an expert when it comes to translating the value of safety for others — sometimes that means bringing it back to the bottom line. For executives, he likes to show the worth safety can bring. “When you're safe, you're more methodical, which leads to more quality which may lead to more production,” he explains. 

While safety absolutely needs to be “bolstered by an extreme commitment from leadership," Chris acknowledges that ultimately safety is an individual's responsibility. 

“Truly safety is about … your individual conscious decision making.”

Featured Guest👉 Name: Chris Moulden

👉 What he does: As Corporate Safety Director at ARB, Chris is responsible for safety compliance, education, and implementation for the California-based construction company.

👉 Company: ARB Primoris Services Corporation

👉 Key quote: "Safety is a team effort. It's something that has to be lived by your employees, and your leadership team has to set the example."

👉 Where to find him: LinkedIn

Safe Takes⚠️ Make safety a company-wide reference point. Top-down commitment to worker safety leads to higher quality products and more production.

⚠️ Create an organizational structure to support the field. When he joined Primoris, Chris Chris created a structure to keep track of incidents, lessons learned, memos, and best practices. 

⚠️ Be sure to take a look at a bidding contractor's safety rates and severity of past incidents. Chris has a pretty extensive vetting process for subcontractors to understand the severity of past incidents and get a good sense for their safety process.

Resources⛑️  Scott Cassell –– Chris Moulden's instructor at the College of Oceaneering who led Chris to work with the Marines.  

⛑️  Primoris Services Corporation

Top quotes from the episode:* "We all come to work every day to make a couple of bucks. But that couple bucks is all it is unless you utilize it towards something that's really valuable to you." * “Like the old saying says: Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” * “When you show people that you care, and they're interested in what you know, they perform the work well — with quality and they do it safe.” * “The heart of safety is exactly that — it's your heart. But without processes and policies and activities that can be duplicated … you're kind of lost.” * "Safety — from my perspective — is an individual's responsibility and value, but it needs to also be bolstered by an extreme commitment from leadership within that organization."